A Dalek Lantern
by Gree
Summary: The Red Lantern Corps gains an unusual new recruit... Reviews and comments are welcomed.
1. The Dalek and the Ring

**Author's Note:** This was a little crossover I dreamed up after seeing some fanart. It's a one-shot for now.

* * *

There was a flash of light when the Dalek appeared.

All around him was cold grey deserts and stone. The Dalek looked at his surroundings , His eyestalk looking around in confusion as he closed up the open panels of its travel unit before the eyestalk-turret whirled around to observe. He was supposed to be dead. He remembered being falling through the Time War to land screaming on Earth before he had finally ended up in the hands of a human named Van Statten. He remembered the pain and torture that had followed.

He remembered the Doctor and the shock of seeing the infamous Time Lord in the flesh. He remembered its own mixture of sorrow and rage at being told he was the last Dalek in existence. He remembered the Doctor's attempt to kill the last of the Daleks. He remembered the Doctor's companion coming in to see him out of curiosity. He remembered feigning weakness until he could lure the human close enough to absorb the chornal radiation in order to repair itself fully and escape.

He remembered breaking out and downloading what the humans called the internet, draining even more power to restore strength to his weapon and defensive systems. He remembered the running battle in Van Statten's bunker, exterminating human after human. However he also remembered the taint in its flesh as he began to do something he would have never considered before. He questioned himself and his mission. He stayed its hand when he should have exterminated.

It had all come to a head, when the Dalek opened up his battle armor to see the warmth of sunlight once more, to feel freedom. He remembered the Doctor coming in with his weapon, only for the human female to convince the Time Lord to stand down. He remembered asking the human female to order him to die, so that no longer would he exist as an abomination tainted by the DNA of humanity. He could not bear to live like that.

However it had appeared that he failed to even kill himself properly. The Dalek ran a diagnostics check on his armor, checking the various sub-systems. Apparently there was a minor flaw that had appeared as a result of being cast out of the Time War so suddenly and the decades of misuse. His planned suicide attempt had instead opened up a hole in the Void and sent him hurling through. Now without someone to order him to die the Dalek could not kill itself. Rage and anger coursed through him.

He paused briefly to scan the planet he was on. He found no matches on his armor's database, although in the Dalek's opinion the whole thing looked like a gravel quarry. (Actually it rather disturbed the Dalek on how many planets looked like gravel quarries.) After a moment the Dalek decided to go out and explore, in hopes of finding intelligent life.

Determinedly, the lone Dalek set out to find anything. He would not be disappointed.

* * *

A few hours later the Dalek came across a sort of camp. All sorts of rusted scrap littered the ground, the broken hulls of spaceships rising out of the ground like the ribs of some long dead beast. Scans revealed heat signatures in the runs.

The Dalek's eyestalk looked up at the variety of individuals that merged from the place. They were aliens of a sort that had never been encountered by the Dalek. Many of them were humanoid others were not. They wore a variety of outfits, rags, space suits and bits of armor along with a variety of weaponry from what looked like directed energy weapons to some sort of motorized swords. All of them moved out slowly but surely to surround him.

The Dalek paused for a moment.

''IDENTIFY YOURSELVES!'' He said, gunstick raised and ready.

Someone peered out at him, it was a tall slender green alien with some sort of shimmering scaled suit. It pointed at him and said something in an unknown language as one of its men fired a snap shot at the Dalek. The Dalek's sensors registered a hit as its shields flashed. More of the pirates came in with obviously hostile intentions. In a sense the Dalek was pleased as the old familiar rage at seeing non-Daleks was coming back. At least he had purpose now.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek screeched, dropping the first pirate as the others closed in.

The following fight lasted forty-six seconds. The Dalek dropped nine of the marauders before some sort of directed energy beam hit the Dalek, overloading its shields and knocking it out before the rest of the pirates closed in.

* * *

''What is it?'' one of Ramar's henchmen asked.

''I have no idea.'' Ramar answered. He was the leader of a small band of pirates hiding out in the backwaters of Sector 1963 on some remote rocky planet that didn't even have a numerical designation. From here his merry band of pirates had raided any nearby passing ships.

Lately they had grown bolder and bolder, striking out further and further in search of plunder. Ramar had felt more confident as the Green Lanterns had been quite busy with their own internal disputes with Sinestro. Ramar knew that the ex-Lantern had made an entire army of yellow ring wielders and they had set the universe afire as two Corps clashed together. Meanwhile Ramar and his little band of pirates had taken the opportunity to raid in the shadows.

All around him was the accumulated plunder of two dozen slain ships. Here the wreck of a destroyed Khund patrol vessel, in another the wreck of a Korugarian liner, over there was the broken remains of a Centarui moon gazer.

And then they had this. A strange little can that had slain nine of his men. They had been surprised to learn It had been some sort of cyborg inside the suit. It was an ugly malformed thing that they had stretched out on a rack and were currently trying to figure out how He ticked. No sound came from the alien creature, but Ramar imagined it would be screaming. Its single eye stared out him in utter hatred, a hatred that Ramar didn't think was possible in sentient being. At that look he unconsciously felt a jolt of fear up his two spines.

He looked over to the scavenged remains of the travel unit they had been picking apart. The technology within was strange and Ramar was positively giddy to find out how much he could make if he sold it. He was already imagining the possibilities.

''What if we kill it?" The henchman repeated.

The pirate leader shrugged.

''It's of no loss.''

* * *

Meanwhile above the planet in the depths of space a single crimson ring flew through the void. It had a purpose, given to it by its lord and master to seek out a suitable host in order to wreak righteous vengeance upon the galaxy.

It was an advanced replica of the power rings crafted by the Oans, but very much different in terms of power and intent. Like an Oan power ring it was one of the most advanced weapons in the galaxy, yet not truly sentient. It detected a great source of anger and rage. If the ring had been sentient it may have been surprised at the sheer level of rage in such a backwater, but the ring was not sentient so it merely altered its course and headed to the source of the rage.

According to the ring's scans the creature below did not fit on any recorded database. That was hardly a problem, as the ring's backup programs reclassified the unknown species as an inhabitant of Sector 1963 and altered its course.

* * *

He was captive again. The irony hurt almost as much as the various needles and blades he was being stuck with. The Dalek had only so recently escaped from Van Statten's captivity to wind up to this unknown planet and be tortured by these unknown pirates.

Daleks are creatures of rage, and right now this Dalek was practically exploding with anger. Anger at seeing non-Daleks, anger at being the last of its race, anger that the last Dalek would die like this, anger at the sheer injustice of this all.

**''Dalek of Skaro.''** A voice said.

Through its one eye the Dalek focused on a red blur above him. All around him were cries of commotion.

**''You have great rage in your heart. You belong to the Red Lantern Corps.''** The red ring shot forward before anyone could stop it and attached itself to one tentacle. There was a flash of red light and the nearest two pirates were blown back.

Ramar looked up in suddenly shock as the Dalek floated up in the air. Out of pure instinct red energy formed around the Dalek until a construct of Dalek battle armor formed around the Dalek as the construct gunstick pointed at Ramar.

''EXTERMINATE!'' He shrieked, sending a jet of fiery blood right at the pirate. In a second the pirate leader was utterly annihilated by the blast. Cries of fear and panic sounded around the camp as the pirates tried to flee.

The Dalek felt natural once again, with the rage coursing through his veins. He targeted its construct armor to take out another pirate. More beams of fiery blood blasted out to obliterate whole swaths of pirates.

Normally a Red Lantern could not think clearly, with the prospective Lantern's mind being overwhelmed by uncontrollable rage to turn into a mindless berserker. However Daleks were creatures of nothing but rage, and this Dalek, tainted as He is, was still a Dalek in the end. To a Red Lantern being inducted into that Corps was a life changing event.

For a Dalek it was his natural state.

If this Dalek could smile he would have. He had no idea what had grafted itself on to one tentacle. He certainly wasn't complaining as he blasted his tormenters into cinders with blasts of fiery bloody light.

Then, suddenly he was silent as the Dalek floated in the air. Its construct disappeared as he turned around and instinctively more construct-tentacles reached out to the various pieces of discarded battle armor and reassembled with quickly.

In less than a minute the eyestalk of the Dalek's battle armor lit up a crimson red as energy of the ring washed over him. No longer was the battle armor bronze, but now scarlet and black, with a strange symbol present on the front. He checked over the systems, everything was in order with its new ring supercharging its armor systems.

_Speak the oath…_ a voice seemingly whispered in its mind. Words followed and the Dalek spoke them.

''WITH BLOOD AND RAGE OF CRIMSON RED! RIPPED FROM A CORPSE SO FRESHLY DEAD! TOGETHER WITH OUR HELLISH HATE! WE WILL BURN YOU ALL THIS IS YOUR FATE!'' the Dalek screeched.

Those words….they had appeared in his mind. Was that a part of the ring? He was time to find some answers.

''WHAT ARE YOU?'' the Dalek demanded.

**''Ring is a weapon created by Atrocitus of Sector 666 to seek and recruit prospective recruits for the Red Lantern Corps.''** The ring said tonelessly. Like all power rings, it had an incorporated database, although the Red Lanterns rarely used that feature for obvious reasons.

''WHAT CAN YOU DO?''

**''Complete description of the ring's capacities' will take 96 hours.''** The ring said.

''I HAVE THE TIME! EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN!''


	2. Manhunters

**Author's Notes:** Originally these were written as a series of snippits and drabbles on the Spacebattles forums, so by the standards of a chapter they might be rather short. Some are only a few hundred words long. the original Spacebattles posts had the Dalek's red power ring's speech formatted as red, here on I don't have that so the Dalek's ring is now bolded.

As always, reviews and comments are appreciated.

* * *

It was really quite amazing, the Dalek mused, even though he was reluctant to admit that non-Dalek technology could be superior to Dalek technology. Perhaps it was the human DNA he had absorbed that was making him more…...emotional for lack of a better term.

Currently the Dalek was on the surface of some deserted moon, having ventured out in curiosity as to its surroundings. It had touched down here to continue its current briefing from the ring's comprehensive database.

The power ring was a device of immense potential to say the least. In theory, the ring was capable of anything as long as the Dalek had a sufficient amount of rage and imagination to will it into existence. Primarily it specialized in energy constructs among many others things.

The Dalek had eventually cut through much of the extrapolation after much of it became redundant and instead instructed the ring's database to give him a brief history of the Red Lantern Corps he had been inducted to. That quickly led to a brief instruction on the history of the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians of the universe.

Troubling enough, it also raised questions about where he was.

''WHAT OF THE DALEKS?'' the Dalek asked.

**''Error. Cannot comply.'''** The ring said.

''EXPLAIN!''

**''No such species exists on the ring's database.''**

''HOW COMPREHENSIVE IS YOUR DATABASE?'' The Dalek demanded.

**''The database covers the entirely of the known universe.''**

Universe. Not galaxy. The Dalek had a suspicion he was not in some isolated sector of the universe.

''WHAT OF THE TIME LORDS?''

**"Error. Cannot comply.''**

The Dalek stewed in irritation. Apparently the Time Lords did not exist here. Even if they were all destroyed in the Time War, as the Doctor has mentioned to him, some remnant of them would at least still exist.

Loneliness was not something a Dalek normally felt but right about now the Dalek felt awfully alone. It was not even in its native universe in addition to the fact that it was apparently he last of his kind. He was free, but what would be do with that freedom?

_''Halt.''_An emotionless voice said to him.

The Dalek's eyestalk swirled around to see five figures drop in. They were tall humanoids in crimson armor. They carried some sort of strange power staves that crackled with latent energy.

''IDENTIFY YOURSELVES!''

_''We are the Manhunters and come with a demand.''_

The Dalek knew who the Manhunters were. The ring had provided a basic history of the Guardians and their failed creations. External scans confirmed their identity.

''EXPLAIN.''

_''You are an unknown and unusual variable. Your technology must be examined for Manhunter purposes and your ability to think in a coherent matter, despite the crimson light, must be examined.''_

''AND IF I REFUSE?''

_''We will take you by force.''_The lead Manhunter stepped forward, baton in hand.

The rest of the Dalek turned around to look at the Manhunters, its eyestalk glowing red. A blast of bloody fire struck the lead Manhunter, sending the android flying back, armor plating and circuitry burning off under the force of the attack.

''REQUEST DENIED!''

* * *

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek screeched as it blew the last Manhunter to bits. It had been a short but brutal fight between the Dalek and his foes. It was effectively the first time the Dalek had fought an actual challenge.

Manhunter technology had proved to be formidable, as expected, but the Dalek's rage was greater than that. One by one the Dalek exterminated the Manhunters. All around it were the scattered debris of the destroyed Manhunter patrol that had tried to ambush him. The eyestalk looked back and forth as the Dalek made its way to one of the bodies.

A crimson plunger construct quickly took ahold of a Manhunter body as the Red Lantern began taking it apart, looking for something. At last it found the central CPU of the Manhunter and pressed it's plunger to it. A Dalek was a genius by the standards of humanity, able to calculate a million combinations in a second. Yet even for a Dalek the binary code of the Manhunter CPU was considerably advanced, the product of millions of years of evolution from Oan technology.

However in typical Dalek matter, the Dalek was not to be deterred.

''RING: HOW LONG TO DECRPYT FILES?'' The Dalek asked. It had already begun to make headway on the systems.

**''Current projections list it at 3.6 hours.''**

''EXCELLENT. PROCEED! PROCEED!''

Clearly the Manhunters were its greatest threat at the moment, and they would not stop coming after him. Of course that suited the Dalek just fine. He would exterminate them all. But he needed more than that. He needed more information that perhaps even the ring could provide.

Perhaps it was time to search the seedy underbelly of the galaxy.

* * *

Ilk's Cantina has long since served the varied scum of the galaxy. A watering hole on the waystop planet of Ratek IV, it had been established fifty galactic years ago by IIk, a former Khund Mercenary who had traveled the galaxy.

The place was the nerve center and meeting place for some of the most vicious criminal syndicates of said Sector. Mercenaries, killers and thieves from all over the universe met at that place to do their business. Many heads were raised as the doors of said Cantina were thrown open and a rather strange figure moved in. Many races of many galaxies frequented the Cantina, but none of them resembled the strange being that appeared.

''I AM SEARCHING FOR INFORMATION ON THE MANHUNTERS! WHO TRADES IN INFORMATION?'' the Dalek screeched.

There was a chortle of laughter. Some tin can was coming in and asking about the Manhunters? Beings from all over the universe have passed through the Cantina, but this was by far the strangest request.

''What the frag are you? Some sort of malfunctioning service bot?'' a hulking one-eyed mercenary got up and looked over the Dalek.

''NEGATIVE. I AM A DALEK OF THE RED LANTERN CORPS.''

''Well here's what I think of that.'' The merc threw his drink at the Dalek, the glass shattering on the Dalek's shell, liquid dripping over and down its battle armor. Unblinking, the eye lenses of the Dalek's eyestalk almost seemed to glare at the merc.

''Bartender get me another beer!''

* * *

About twenty minutes later the Dalek exited the burning building as screams of pain and despair sounded behind him. His attempts at gaining information from the seedier side of galactic civilization had failed. He would have to try other means.

**''Decryption is completed.''** reported the ring.

The Dalek looked through the information with interest. The Manhunters were moving out and rebuilding after devastating battles with the Green Lanterns and the recent loss of their Grandmaster Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman. After looking through more files the Dalek realized something.

''HENSHAW IS FROM EARTH! EARTH EXISTS!''

Skaro and Gallifrey had seemingly been gone, along with the Eye of Harmony which furthered the Dalek's suspicions, now with the sudden appearance of the Doctor's favorite planet, this threw things into a confusing mess. The war against the Manhunters could be put on hold at the moment. This needed to be investigated.

''RING: WHAT IS THE CURRENT DOMINANT SPECIES ON EARTH.''

**''A race known as humanity. They are a mammalian species.''**

''I AM ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH THEIR BIOLOGY. LIST THE RED LANTERN OF EARTH'S SECTOR.''

**''Red Lantern Corpsman of Sector 2814 is Dex-Starr of Earth.''** The ring showed an image to the Dalek.

There was a pause.

''THE RED LANTERN IS A CAT! A CAT! '' the Dalek screeched incredulously. That was…not expected.

''WHAT OF THE LANTERN DEFENSES OF EARTH?''

**''Sector 2814 has two Green Lanterns assigned to it, both human. In addition two Honor Guard Lanterns spend part of their time on the planet. No current Sinestro Corpsman is listed for Sector 2814. A single Star Sapphire exists on Earth.''**

''DO YOU HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON EARTH'S DEFENSES?''

**''Earth contains a disproportionally high population of metahumans.''**

''RING PLOT A COURSE FOR EARTH! I MUST INVESTIGATE! INVESTIGATE! INVESTIGATE!''

Rashal Ilk folded his fingers as he mentioned to his bodyguard to let in his latest guest. The crime lord was not in a very pleased mood. His bar and cantina had been down, along with many of his criminal connections. Many operations had been disrupted and Ilk had lost a tidy sum.

The doors of his personal chamber opened and a fist smashed aside a Khund bodyguard and sent him into a wall. IIk glared in irritation. The newcomer was a hulking grey-skinned humanoid with a man of wild black hair. He wore tattered biker leathers and carried a long chain and hook wrapped around his arm.

''He was expensive.'' He told Lobo.

''So? The main man will be more expensive and you wanted the best.'' Lobo tossed aside.

''Yes, this…. So called 'Dalek', has caused considerable financial loss to me. It killed two of my cousins. You will hunt him down and terminate him.'' Ilk pressed a button and a hologram displayed the figure of the Dalek. Lobo peered at it.

''That's a Red Lantern you've got.''

''It will be quadruple your usual fee.''

''Sure thing then. I'll frag the biastch.''

* * *

''We have a recent sighting of the anomaly on Ratek IV in Sector 1963.'' Salaak said as he uploaded the latest information from his ring into the Oan databanks.

''That will be all 1418.'' One of the Guardians of the universe dismissed the Lantern Administrator. Salaak bowed and left the spherical chamber that the immortal Guardians of the Universe inhabited. The rest of the Guardians faced each other.

''This new Red Lantern is apparently capable of speech and coherent thought.'' One of the Guardians stated.

''That is most unusual. Is this a new development by Atrocitus?'' another Guardian asked.

''That is possible.'' One of them nodded.

''It's species is not known in our databanks. That is….troubling.''

''What action do we take to deal with it?'' another Guardian asked.

''What of Sector 1963's Lanterns?''

'' Lantern 1963.1 is currently engaged in disasters elsewhere and Lantern 1963.2 is a new recruit currently being trained. Both cannot observe the being quite just yet.''

''It is but a single Lantern. What could it possibly accomplish? It will most likely be killed fighting the Manhunters.'' A Guardian said.

''It is however this may be a prototype for the rest of Atrocitus's Corps. Thinking Red Lanterns would not be optimal for our purposes.''

''We do no desire a war with Atrocitus quite yet.'' Another pointed out.

''Is it agreed then we will hold off action for the moment?''

''Yes. We are the Guardians of the Universe. The matter will be put aside and dealt with later.''


	3. Earth: Part One

**Author's Note:** Another snippit, this was covering the Dalek's adventures on Earth.

As always, reviews and comments are welcomed.

**EDIT:** 06/16/2012. I edited out Lobo's introduction and shifted it to the preceeding chapter along with the scene of the Guardians.

* * *

A crimson form streaked through the void at faster than light speeds. Traveling like this under his own power was a new experience for the Dalek, who had mostly traveled at sublight under his own power or on ships. It was oddly liberating.

Before him was the Doctor's favorite planet. Earth. It was inhabited by a species that had defied the Daleks many times before. It was also the place the Dalek has been last, were Van Statten had kept him prisoner, torturing the Dalek. The Dalek passed the planets of the outer solar system before eventually the blue-green orb of Earth hung before him. The Dalek came in past its moon to observe the planet below in quiet curiosity.

Eventually, his scans detected what it was looking for. A grey satellite passed by his long range scanners as the Dalek hastily gunned right towards it. Eventually it reached the satellite and pressed his plunger to its side. The Dalek hacked the inferior human firewalls before accessing the entire human communications network. Just like he did previously, he downloaded the entire human information network and ran it through his previous information.

There were a number of differences between his prior information and the new one he held. Other than the fact that a significant portion of metahumans existed here where they did not exist on the other Earth, there was no mention of a Van Statten. To the Dalek's understanding that human had been a very rich and influential being.

Curious, most curious. It only furthered the Dalek's hypothesis that he was not in his universe. As much as he hated to admit it, the thought of a universe with no Daleks or Doctor almost….scared him for lack of a better term.

Impossible of course. Daleks had no fear.

The Dalek busied himself with looking over what he knew of each to the important metahumans. There was Superman, considered by most to be the mightiest in the eyes of the public, Wonder Woman, another Kryptonian-class metahuman, the shadowy Batman and Earth's Green Lanterns, of which apparently there were four.

**''Ring scans detect the presence of a Reach Scarab unit on the planet.''** The ring reported.

''THE REACH?''

**''The Reach are an aggressive species bent on conquest and exploitation of planets. They originate in Sector 2. A common method of conquest is infiltration by a Scarab unit symbiote to undermine planetary defenses.''**

''ELABORATE ON THE SCARAB UNIT.''

**''A Scarab unit is a biomechanical Reach symbiote. It's is registered a high-level planetary threat.''**

The Dalek was rather confused. Such a being represented threat to the planet and yet the Lanterns did nothing? Where they truly unaware of the Reach agent? But how could that be? His own ring could detect it and he had just arrived in Earth orbit.

That was something to be investigated later.

Disengaging himself from the satellite, the Dalek headed quickly down to the blue planet. The last time he had been at Earth, the city of Cardiff had held a usual reading of a space-time rift.

Perhaps such a thing might exist here.

* * *

Kyle Rayner sighed and put aside his pen as he finished the latest plans for a series of drawings he had been working on. He sipped at his glass of water as he relaxed in the shade of his personal apartment. It really was a beautiful day outside. Kyle didn't get too much free time in which to simply relax and draw. Overall it was a rather quiet day-

**''Alert! Rage energy detected in planetary orbit.''** His ring beeped.

Kyle sighed. And it was all going so well to. He activated his costume and took flight outside, quickly ascending into the atmosphere.

''Ring how many Red Lanterns?''

**''One signature detected.''**

''Access JLA communications network, is anyone available?''

**'''Negative. The Justice League is unavailable. They are currently engaged in combating other metahuman crime at the moment.'**

Kyle sucked in the air through his teeth. John and Guy were on Oa and Hal was…indisposed at the moment. It looked like it had to be him to confront a Red Lantern by himself.

''Just great.''

* * *

People below watched as some sort of scarlet and black pepperpot floated through the air, its eyestalk moving back and forth, as if scanning for something. Usually Cardiff didn't have many metahuman visitors. Meanwhile the Dalek was conducting his own scans of the area for the space-time rift. Every inch of this place was being scanned and observed in the Dalek's computers. So far he hadn't found very much to go on.

The Dalek paused, seeing it's reflection in a glass window. It had no really gotten the chance to look at its new casing. It was no longer a bronze color, but rather a red one usually reserved for a Dalek Supreme. Well the Dalek supposed it could be any rank it wanted to be now, as the only Dalek in existence here. The thought of giving himself whatever title he wanted was an odd one, one that almost made him uncomfortable.

His thoughts were rudely interrupted by Lobo's space hog.

''Hey bastich!'' the Dalek had barely time to react as the bike slammed into him, flinging the Dalek through a half-finished apartment building with a scream of surprise and outrage. Lobo then leapt off his bike, hook twirling, to slam it into the Dalek's eyestalk.

''MY VISION IS NOT IMPAIRED!'' the Dalek screamed in rage as it proceeded to blast Lobo point blank with crimson light. The Czarnian bounty hunter flew back as the Dalek quickly made repairs to its eyestalk with its ring.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF!'' the Dalek screeched. He was doing that a lot.

''Names Lobo and I'm here to frag y-'' another blast of light cut Lobo off.

''YOU HAVE ATTACKED ME! YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!''

''I'd like to see you try trashcan!'' Lobo paused to grab a truck and throw it at the Dalek. It hit the Dalek, who blew it apart in another beam. Lobo the reached back and whirled his chain around to hook the Dalek's plunger arm, then with one mighty yank the Dalek went flying towards him.

''Get over here!'' Lobo slammed the Dalek into the ground, trying to wrestle the gunstick away from him so that the Dalek couldn't target him.

That of course didn't stop the Dalek from making two Dalek constructs, both of whom promptly blasted the bounty hunter right in the head. Lobo's body flew back, his skull blown out by the rage energy.

''LOBO IS EXTERMINATED! DALEKS ARE SUP-'' The Dalek's cries of victory were cut off as Lobo suddenly got up and tackled the Dalek, his skull knitting back together.

''Not gonna be that easy fanboy!''

* * *

**''Rage energy detected up ahead.''** Kyle's ring reported.

''I can see that.'' Ahead were the burning fires of a Red Lantern's energy. Quickly Rayner conjured up several emerald firetrucks and hoses in the air, to spray the burning buildings with pure willpower in an attempt to stop the burning.

All around him people fled. Meta-brawls were infrequent in Britain, but evidently people here had the good sense to get the hell out of the place when the metahumans started to fight. Kyle created constructs of cops and rescue workers to direct the people out in an orderly fashion.

''Ring: Scan for human life in the immediate area.''

**''Scanning….432 humans are present in twenty meters and moving due west.'' The ring projected a map construct detailing said movements.**

''Highlight the Red Lantern.'' A spot on the map flashed.

**''Warning: Czarnian lifesigns also present.''** That only meant Lobo….fighting a Red Lantern.

_''Goddammit.''_


	4. Earth: Part Two

**Author's Notes:** This was originally written as two snippits, each around a thousand words. I merged it into one chapter because I thought each one might be too brief.

As always, reviews and comments are welcomed.

* * *

''EXTERMINATE!'' The Dalek blasted Lobo again, having finally managed to cut his hook and chain in half with a chainsaw construct. The Czarnian rose, flesh and muscle burning off his bones as he got up again and began to regenerate. Lobo was proving quite difficult to kill, but the Dalek was tenacious if nothing else.

''EXTERMINATE!'' The Dalek screeched as he blasted Lobo again.

'EXTERMINATE!'' and again….

'EXTERMINATE!'' and again….

'EXTERMINATE!'' and again….

'EXTERMINATE!'' and again….

At this point the Dalek was getting frustrated.

''WHY WON'T YOU TERMINATE!'' the Dalek screamed.

''Of all the stuff the main man is good at, dying ain't one of 'em-'' Lobo began to speak through his burnt lips before a giant plunger hit him.

Kyle Rayner arrived in time to see a crimson pepperpot in the middle of trying to beat Lobo to death with a red plunger construct. Or at least Kyle assumed that the bloody lump of paste on the ground was Lobo, or Lobo attempting to regenerate. He blinked first at seeing the strange form of the Red Lantern, then his brain processed the idea of a Red Lantern making constructs and evidently speaking.

Rayner paused to take a closer look at the being. It was scarlet and black, shaped like a tin can with some sort of scope extending from its "head". It had two "arms" shaped like a plunger and an egg whisk, several spheres were led into its lower body. And of course it had the symbol of the Red Lantern Corps on its front "skirts".

''You mind cooling down?'' Rayner moved in and created a castle wall separating and encasing the Dalek and Lobo.

''DO NOT INTERFERE!'' Crimson light burst from the wall as it shattered before Rayner's eyes. That was impressive, considering how much willpower Rayner had as one of the veteran Lanterns of the corps.

''DO NOT INTEREFERE OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!'' the Dalek's eyestalk seemed to turn around and glare at him.

Then the Dalek held down the form of Lobo and created some sort of crimson sphere around the Czarnian Bounty Hunter. Red energy crackled around the device as the Dalek prepared his molecular disintegrator ark construct for use. Normally a device used in the Dalek's home universe for executions, the Dalek replicated it for this use.

''MAXIMUM EXTERMINATION!'' the Dalek screamed as he activated the construct. In a flash of crimson energy Lobo was disintegrated. After a moment the Dalek deactivated the construct and raised his eyestalk in victory.

''COMPLETE MOLECULAR DESTRUCTION IS ACHIEVED! THE DALEKS ARE VICTORI-''

"Life signs detected. Czarnian is still alive.'' The ring reported.

If the Dalek could blink it would have.

''IMPOSSIBLE! NOTHING COULD SURVIVE THAT!''

''Evidently he did.'' Rayner pointed out, pausing to look up from making another construct faucet to help dose the fires before they could spread.

''What are you? How can you even talk? How do you resist the rage?'' Kyle pressed on, hoping for more answers.

The Dalek was silent for a moment before encasing the slowly regenerating form of Lobo in a cage of crimson energy.

''ELEVATE!'' Rayner watched the Dalek fly up and up with Lobo in tow. Briefly he considering going after him but currently he had civilians to save and fires to douse out. As he did so his ring beeped again. It was a message from Oa.

* * *

As the Dalek flew up through the atmosphere Lobo slowly regenerated enough to possess eyes and a mouth once more. The Bounty Hunter looked around and lashed out, creating cracks in the construct he was being held in.

''Watcha gonna do fanboy? I haven't encountered a power ring that could kill me yet.'' Lobo told him.

''RING: REPORT ON LOBO"S BIOLOGY!''

**''Subject is a Czarnian with excellent regenerative abilities. Exact upper limits unknown. Subject is the last of his kind and has defied death multiple times before though unknown means.''**

''YOU ARE THE LAST OF YOUR KIND?'' The Dalek asked suddenly.

''Yeah, what's it to you? I fragged the rest of the Czarnian. I wanted to be the last.'' Lobo said.

''YOU WANTED TO EXTERMINATE YOUR OWN RACE FOR THE PERSONAL HONOR OF BEING ALONE?'' The Dalek looked at him, eyestalk glowing.

''Yeah so? Bunch of fraggers anyway. Gonna frag you like I did to them.''

The Dalek looked at him, eyestalk glowing. This being slaughtered its own race out of boredom while the Dalek was the last of its kind through tragic fate beyond its control? Maybe it was the human genetics that tainted the Dalek's flesh, but the sight of Lobo boasting about it made him even more pissed off.

''YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!'' he said, with the purest loathing.

''Yeah yeah fanboy, you said that before.'' Lobo snorted before the Dalek promptly tossed him into a wood chipper construct. The Dalek listened to Lobo's curses with something akin to pleasure before creating a spaceship construct around Lobo.

''IMPUT COORDINATES AND LAUNCH!'' the Dalek said as the construct blasted off right in a blaze of crimson energy. Farther and farther it went past Venus and Mercury to it's intended destination with the Sol System's primary star. The Dalek proceeded to track the designation of his construct-ship until it hit the sun itself. A faint crimson light flared as it impacted, then there was no more.

With something resembling pleasure the Dalek turned around and paused to look at Earth. The planet held a great many things to investigate. However at the moment the Dalek wished to find out who hired Lobo, exterminate said person and then proceed with whatever objectives he needed to accomplish.

It turned and began to travel past Mercury, then Venus, then Earth and then past the inner solar system. As the crimson streak of fire began to approach Pluto, the Dalek's ring suddenly flashed with urgency.

**''Warning. Will closing in.''** The Dalek stopped, eyestalk scanning the void to see an emerald figure come out of hyperspace. It was a red-haired human male, dressed in a green and black ensamble, with his arms crossed and a sour look on his face.

''Awright tincan let's have a little chat.'' Guy Gardner said. ''You know I was having a good time until I got reports of some red R2-D2 messing around in my Sector. Where's Supes when you need him?''

The Dalek stared at the human male in front of him. Quickly it accessed it's recently downloaded database and cross referenced the image with its own public census records. It took approximately 0.4 rels to match an image.

''YOU ARE GUY GARDNER OF THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS AND A MEMBER OF EARTH'S DEFENDERS.''

''Well it's great to hear about me…wait a minute, did you just talk?'' Guy blinked. The thing had a rather odd way of talking, a rather high-pitched, scratchy voice, as if constantly irritated.

''I AM CAPABLE OF VERBAL COMMUNICATION. THIS IS IRELEVANT. I WILL PROCEED.'' The Dalek turned and flew around Guy only to suddenly be caught in a green net.

''Hold on chuckles. You can't just go wrecking stuff on my home turf and just walk away!'' The Dalek paused and formed a crimson buzzaw construct and cut through the net surrounding him. It turned to the Green Lantern.

''DO NOT IMPEDE ME OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!'' The Dalek screeched.

''Just try it ya flyin dustbin!'' Guy raised his ring.

''EXTERMINATE!''

The following fight was one of the hardest Guy had been in. It was perhaps only his own legendary willpower and experience with the red ring that allowed to him survive the initial volley of frenzied attacks from the Dalek Lantern. Countless blasts issued from the creature's frontal whisk, an outlet for the napalm-like plasma that Red Lanterns vomited.

The Dalek fired off yet another crimson blast of energy from its gunstick, which was quickly countered by a SWAT shield Gardner conjured up. With surprise Guy noted that the shield was melting away rather quickly.

He changed the construct into a funnel to divert the red energy before summoning a group of soldier constructs who took up position and opened fire at the Dalek, green bullets impacting the Dalek's shields as it weaved and bobbled through space.

In response the Dalek summoned a dozen crimson Dalek constructs that turned to attack.

''ATTACK AND DESTROY! ATTACK AND DESTROY!'' the Dalek shrieked with maniac intensity.

''WE OBEY!'' the constructs answered as they came in, gunsticks blazing blasts of crimson light, tearing apart several of Guy's troopers.

The Green Lantern dodged several more beams and them made a huge baseball bat, fifty meters long, and swung it at the Dalek, sending the homicidal little tincan hurling through space screaming.

''Howdya like them apples eh?''

The Dalek righted itself around Charon, Pluto's moon. Rapidly he located Gardner and he quickly constructed another larger gunstick, made for long range combat and it quickly tracked Guy as he came in with the bat again.

A large blast of crimson light shattered his construct as a second one barely missed Gardner who righted himself and fired another ring blast, which was countered by a shield thrown up by the Dalek. Then the shield expanded and expanded around the Dalek until a full saucer covered it.

''I AM PREPARED FOR HEAVY COMBAT!'' the Dalek screamed as it opened fire with various construct weapons at Guy, who swore repeatedly as he tried to avoid them, his shields flaring as he strained to feed willpower into them.

Another blast knocked him down as he flew around the orbit of Charon and created a huge set of anti-aircraft cannons. Grabbing into the triggers, he filled space with green flak shells made out of pure willpower while a pair of missiles were willed into existence to take out the Dalek.

The Dalek registered and tracked the missiles even as the flak impacted against the saucer construct around it. Quickly formulating a counter-strategy, it created several crimson missiles to answer Guy's attack.

Crimson and emerald explosions lit up the void of space around Pluto as the Dalek swooped into the orbit, tracking the emerald willpower of the Lantern as he came around for another attack. He barely managed to fire off another blast in time to counter Gardner's own massive ringblast. The Green Lantern's willpower was rather impressive to even the Dalek. However it's rather short patience was growing even shorter. It quickly formed a large set of weaponry around his saucer construct and aimed it at the planet below.

''Crap.'' Guy looked up.

''FIRING EXTERMINATOR WORLDKILLER!"

The rage energy collected and gathered and the variety of barrels lit up on the vessel. It was a construct of a weapon during the Time War, one of the Dalek Empire's worldkillers. With a brief flash it opened fire in a massive blast.

''_Craaaaaaaaaaaaaap-"_ Guy was cut off as he poured every last bit of willpower he had into a shield around him. This was not going to be pleasant at all.

Then the blast hit. It drilled right through the surface of Pluto , tearing through the crust to rupture and tear apart the planet below. Crimson fire spread across the shattered surface as the planet broke apart in an immense explosion.

Pluto was gone.

The Dalek paused to scan the area for the Green Lantern. His sensors caught flickers of willpower among the debris of the planet. Was the Green Lantern still alive? Probably, the Dalek hadn't detected the ring moving off to search for a new bearer.

**''Warning. Willpower approaching from Sol-3.''** The ring warned. Briefly the Dalek considering fighting but he decided his efforts were better put elsewhere. He had wasted enough time here and had business elsewhere.

''RING: PLOT COURSE TO RED LANTERN HEADQUARTERS.''

**''Affirmative, plotting course to Ysmault.''** The Dalek looked over the destroyed remnants of Pluto one last time before turning around and heading off in the distance.

* * *

Kyle Rayner flew through the void of space right after having successfully put out the fires of the Red Lantern's rampage and having delivered to Lobo's bike to the JLA Watchtower for temporary safekeeping.

''Ring, triangulate Guy's last position.''

**''Affirmative.''** It beeped a second later with coordinates as it altered Kyle's flight path. Eventually Kyle came past Neptune and up to a field of debris. The Lantern looked at it for a moment.

''Tell me he didn't….ring, what is the status of Pluto in the Sol System?''

**'' The dwarf planet had suffered a cataclysmic explosion.''**

Kyle's mouth flapped open for a second before closing speechlessly.

''Never mind, locate and scan Guy.''

**''Scanning, found.''**

Guy was behind an asteroid. Kyle checked him over. He was unconscious with his ring acting as life support to enclose him in a bubble. Kyle created an ambulance construct and dragged it behind him as he flew towards Oa.

''Ring: Transmit message to Oa, medical assistance is required.''

**''Affirmative, message sent.''**

Kyle shook his head.

''Pluto. He blew up Pluto. I don't even want to know how the guys on Earth are going to react to that. Well…..at least it's not a planet anymore.''

* * *

**Author's Notes** Next, Ysmault and Atrocitus.


	5. Atrocitus

**Author's Note:** Another snippet, here the Dalek meets Atrocitus. As always reviews and comments are welcomed.

* * *

As it turned out, Ysmault was located right in Sector 2814 itself, so the Dalek did not have to make a very long trip. It entered Ysmault's planetary system and began preliminary planetary scans on the world, looking for life.

Apart from the signatures of the Red Lanterns, he found precious little life on the surface of Ysmault. His scanners detected levels of radiation and traces of chemical weaponry in the atmosphere, as if used by some great war in the past.

''RING: LOCATE THE NEAREST RED LANTERN CORPSMEN!''

''**Affirmative. Now scanning.''**

The Dalek swooped in from the skies to enter the atmosphere proper, down and down he went through the blasted skies to land on the lifeless wasteland below with a gentle thud. The Dalek's eyestalk then scanned the area as it trundled forward.

It wasn't long before he encountered his first Red Lantern.

''**Red Lantern of Sector 2814. Dex-Starr.''** The ring reported. The Dalek observed a cat playing with a severed skull.

''HALT ACTIVITY! EXPLAIN YOUR ACTIONS AND THE PURPOSE OF THE GATHERING HERE.'' The Dalek said.

Instead Dex-Starr looked up and bounded towards him, moving up to the Dalek's casing.

''Meow!'' the Dalek looked down as Dex-Starr began to use his casing as a scratching post.

''DESIST! DESIST! I AM NOT A RECREATIONAL DEVICE!'' the Dalek backed away and formed a leash construct to pick up Dex-Starr away from him. The cat yowled and struggled within the construct. The Dalek ignored his cries and continued to trundle forward.

He came across more Red Lanterns in a nearby rise overlooking a vast lake of blood. The eyestalk looked them over, nothing the varied species and sizes. He felt a familiar disgust welling up in him at seeing all the non-Daleks before him.

''I AM THE RED LANTERN CORPSMEN OF SECTOR 1963. I REQUIRE INFORMATION.'' The Dalek said.

''RAAAAR!''

''THAT IS NOT AN ANSWER. ENUNCIATE!''

''RAAAR! GRRRRR!''

''ENUNCIATE! ENUNCIATE!'' the Dalek was growing angrier.

''RAAAR!'' a bull-like Red Lantern leapt at him, only to be smacked away by a plunger construct.

''YOU WILL OBEY! OBEY OR YOU WILL EXTERMINATED!'' The Dalek threatened, gunstick raised.

''They can't answer you.'' A shadow fell over the Dalek, who whirled around, eyestalk raised. He looked up at the hulking red figure that landed near him. It was a scarred monster of a being, with wrinkled skin and a craggy fanged face. Another non-Dalek, but this one could speak.

''YOU ARE ATROCITUS?'' The Dalek asked.

''That is correct, and you evidently are my newest Red Lantern of Sector 1963. Ring: Scan Corpsmen 1963 and give biological overview.'' Atrocitus commanded.

''**Scanning, subject is an organic creature within a cybernetic shell. Traces of human DNA contained.''** The ring reported.

''Human DNA? Interesting…..what are you?'' Atrocitus asked.

''I AM A DALEK.''

''And what are the Daleks?'' Atrocitus asked.

''THE DALEKS ARE THE MASTER RACE! WE ARE THE SUPERIOR BEINGS!'' it stated proudly.

''If you are the master race then why haven't I heard of you until you?'' Atrocitus asked.

The Dalek lowered it's eyestalk in something that Atrocitus might have equated to sadness.

''THIS IS NOT MY UNIVERSE. I CAME HERE BY ACCIDENT.''

''I see, so that's why the ring had no data on your species before. Why do you have human DNA?'' Atrocitus asked.

Human DNA when it had absorbed Rose Tyler's DNA. It's greatest source of shame. It was not pure anymore. It had the stink of humanity about him. It had already tried to kill itself and failed.

''IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. IT IS NOT RELEVANT. IGNORE! IGNORE!''

''Then, how can you think coherently?'' Atrocitus asked.

The eyestalk remained focused on him. ''I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION. EXPLAIN!''

''I calibrated the rings to overwhelm targets with rage so that they could not think clearly. Most Red Lanterns cannot think coherently.''

''RAGE? DALEKS ARE RAGE! I WAS BORN IN HATE AND WRATH TO BRING EXTERMINATION TO THE ENEMIES OF THE DALEKS. YOUR RING CHANGES LITTLE!'' The Dalek almost sounded like it was boasting.

''You control the ring rather than be controlled…..I didn't think that possible. I made this corps to allow the abused and wounded to extract vengeance on their tormenters.'' Atrocitus mused.

''I HAVE ALREADY EXTRACTED VENGEANCE ON MY TORMENTERS. I HAVE MY OWN AGENDA NOW. I WILL EXTERMINATE THE MANHUNTERS! ''

''The Manhunters destroyed my Sector. You will hardly get any objection from me.''

''I CAME HERE FOR POTENTIAL ALLIES IN MY OPERATIONS AGAINST THE MANHUNTERS BUT THE RED LANTERN CORPS CANNOT EVEN THINK IN A COHERENT MATTER! THIS IS INSUFFICENT FOR MY PURPOSES. THEY ARE INFERIOR!'' the Dalek shrieked.

''No, this is my Corps. I will decide what to do with it. We both have…other business to attend to. I suggest you get working on your little Manhunter problem.''

The Dalek looked at him for a moment then it flew off into the distance of the Central Red Power Battery. Atrocitus watched him leave. This was an unknown factor into his plans. Atrocitus sensed a truly impressive rage coming from such a small creature, raging at everything, including even itself. For the moment, this 'Dalek' would serve Atrocitus's goals by destroying the hated Manhunters.

* * *

''**Warning: Power Levels at 10%''** the ring intoned. The Dalek had learnt of the ring's charging limitation early on in its briefing.

''SUMMON BATTERY FROM SUBSPACE!''

The red battery was appeared before the Dalek, who grabbed it with its plunger. The Dalek then set down the battery on a nearby rock and opened up its battle armor for the recharging. It extended one tentacle to the power battery.

''WITH BLOOD AND RAGE OF CRIMSON RED! RIPPED FROM A CORPSE SO FRESHLY DEAD! TOGETHER WITH OUR HELLISH HATE WE WILL EXTERMINATE YOU ALL! THAT IS YOUR FATE!''

''**Power Levels 100%''** the ring responded. The Dalek dismissed the battery before enclosing its armor around it once more. The process needed to recharge the ring left it rather vulnerable. It had to think about another solution, perhaps he could incorporate the battery into its armor?

''Meow.'' The Dalek's eyestalk turned around to observe Dex-Starr pounced on its dome.

''I AM NOT A PERCH.'' It picked the cat off with a construct tentacle.

''Meow.'' The cat rubbed up against the hull of the Dalek's battle armor.

''I AM DEPARTING FOR THE EXTERMINATION OF THE MANHUNTERS. DALEKS NO NOT ENGAGE IN RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES!''

''Meow!'' Dex-Starr floated after him.

''IF YOU WISH TO ACCOMPANY ME YOU MAY AID ME IN BATTLE. DO NOT FAIL OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!'' the Dalek turned to look at the cat. It was a non-Dalek true, but it was a barely sentient animal and would be useful as a pet. The Daleks had made use of lesser species when required, such as the Ogrons.

''Meow!''

''FOLLOW! OBEY!'' the Dalek shrieked as it took off into the space around Ysmault, Dex-Starr following him.

* * *

''The Government had confirmed that the former planet Pluto has been destroyed as a result of metahuman activity. No suspects have been confirmed as of yet and the Justice League had not made any state-'' Rayner turned off the TV.

Situated on the moon overlooking the Earth, the Justice League Watchtower was the monitoring station and headquarters of the League. Right now it was a place where Kyle Rayner was meeting with some of Earth's greatest defenders.

''Well at least it's not a planet anymore. Nobody really cares about Pluto anyway.'' Plastic Man commented. Superman looked at him.

''What?''

''And it could speak?'' asked Superman. He and the rest of the League were gathered in the Watchtower viewing the latest transmissions that had been taken on-site when the Red Lantern fought Lobo. Only Flash, Cyborg and Plastic Man were present at the moment, the rest of the League busy or otherwise unavailable.

''Yeah. It even spoke to me and I just downloaded the playback records from Guy's ring. It could speak and form constructs, rather advanced ones in fact.'' Rayner projected an example of one such construct with his own ring.

''And he hurled Lobo into the sun. Any word on him?'' Barry Allen, the Flash, asked.

''I've scanned the sun but I've come up with nothing. He might be dead, but knowing Lobo I doubt it.'' Kyle said.

''The media's having a field day with Pluto destroyed. We've been getting calls from virtually every government agency about this.'' Victor Stone AKA Cyborg noted from his computer monitor.

''I mean, it's not even a planet anymore. It's not like we lost Neptune.'' Plastic Man coiled around to peer over Cyborg's shoulder.

''Looks pretty weird. Is that a toilet plunger?'' Cyborg looked it over. A pepperpot with a plunger and an egg whisk for arms. It was by far the strangest alien that Cyborg had seen. The audio clips were the strangest. It had a high-pitched English accent, scratchy and almost at the edge of constant hysteria.

''It was powerful and bloodthirsty enough to reduce Lobo to paste. I saw it firsthand. It's not something to be underestimated.'' Kyle warned him.

''What does it want then? Why was it in Cardiff? Why in Wales?'' The Flash asked.

''I have no idea. Most Red Lanterns are just Atrocitus's mindless cronies. I have no idea what it wanted with Cardiff.'' Kyle responded.

''Maybe Atroctius sent it here?'' Superman asked.

''Possible, but he's been staying mostly within his own territory for now.'' Kyle told him.

''What's the Guardians' position on this?'' Superman wondered.

''I've got no word from Oa since I dropped off Guy. They might send a task force after this Red Lantern.'' Rayner told him.

''What if he comes here again?'' Plastic Man stretched back down to them.

''Well if he comes again we'll be ready for him.'' Superman said.


	6. Hunting the Manhunters: Part One

**Author's Note:** Another snippit.

* * *

Rashal IIk peered over his assembled minions. He was back at his personal estate at Ratek IV's second moon. His home was filled with a vast collection of artifacts and trophies, acquired during his long years as a mercenary. He lounged on his silver and carbonite throne like some barbarian king.

''What news of Lobo?'' he asked.

''None so far boss.'' One of them said.

''He should have returned by now. They said he was the best.'' Rashal grumbled.

One of his minions looked up. ''Does anyone hear that?''

''Hear what?'' Rashal asked.

''It's a kind of faint whistling sound almost like a-''

''EXTERMINATE!'' a loud screechy voice shouted as the roof exploded. Several of Rashal's minions fell to the floor, trying to avoid the falling debris while Rashal himself grabbed a nearby Nth metal sword, a trophy of his mercenary days. Down from above floated a scarlet and black pepperpot-like creature.

''WHICH ONE OF YOU IS RASHAL ILK! I HAVE UNCOVERED INFORMATION ON YOUR ACTIVITES AGAINST ME.'' The tin can screeched.

''Right here you fragger!'' Rashal stepped forward, blade in hand. ''You will pay for destroying my-''

''EXTERMINATE!'' a single blast of crimson fire reduced him to a shouldering skeleton on the floor. The Dalek then turned around to observe the various cowering minions. Several of them tried to run away, only to be blocked by a set of scarlet construct walls.

''Please don't kill us please have mercy!'' one of them said frantically. The eyestalk tuned around to look at them.

''DALEKS HAVE NO CONCEPT OF MERCY! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!''

* * *

''Meow.'' Dex-Starr said as the Dalek blasted out of the burning mansion. The Red Lanterns paused to hover in the thin atmosphere of Ratek IV's moon to gaze out at the planet before them.

''THE KHUND HAS BEEN LOCATED AND EXTERMINATED!'' The Dalek said, his eyestalk glowing red.

''NOW THE MANHUNTERS WILL BE EXTERMINAT-'' a blast suddenly impacted the Dalek who quickly turned around.

''ALERT! ALERT! CASING IMPAIRED. LAUNCHING SCANS!'' the Dalek shrieked as its eyestalk turned left and right.

''_No man escapes the Manhunters!''_ came the cold robotic voice as the Dalek tracked twenty figures dropping through the void of space. The Dalek looked at them in a mixture of disgust and utter rage.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the first blast took a Manhunter in the chest, tearing it part with the burning force of the Dalek's rage. More Manhunter blasts were fired at the two Red Lanterns who flew up to meet them. Immediately the Dalek created a dozen more Dalek constructs.

''SEEK! ANHHILATE! DESTROY!'' The constructs swooped in, gunsticks blazing as the Manhunters returned fire.

''_No man escapes the Manhunters!''_

''ATTACK EARTH FELINE! ATTACK! ATTACK!'' the Dalek promptly blasted another Manhunter to bits as its own personal ring shields flared under the impact. Dex-Starr pounced on the head of another Manhunter and vomited a huge burst of fire into it.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek constructs cried as the space above Ratek IV was filled with flickering lights from the construct gunsticks and the Manhunters power batons. The Dalek was in the middle of cutting another Manhunter in half with a chainsaw construct when one of them suddenly blinded him.

The Manhunter's faceplate opened up to reveal an integrated power battery, a trio of sockets in a board of circuitry.

''_Initiating power retrieval.''_ The Manhunter intoned.

''**Power Levels 79.4 percent''** the red ring intoned as power began to be drained from the ring.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek promptly impaled the Manhunter with its chainsaw construct and yanked upwards, tearing the Manhunter in half from waist up.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek proceeded to blast away the remains of the Manhunter before the turned around and made another pair of gunstick constructs.

''EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!''

* * *

After the battle the Dalek surveyed the surviving wrecks of the Manhunter bodies. He had already known about the power ring draining technology that had been developed before by the robots, but last he knew they only had variants for the green light of Will and the yellow light of fear.

''WE ARE VICTORIOUS EARTH FELINE. THE MANHUNTERS HAVE BEEN EXTERMINATED!'' the Dalek floated over to one of the Manhunters units and ripped off part of its chest plating with a pair of construct tentacles. Then he pressed it's plunger to the CPU.

''DOWNLOADING! DOWNLOADING!'' the Dalek had already been able to download Manhunter binary codes before with his power ring. Previous experience had allowed him to hasten the process considerably.

''DOWNLOAD COMPLETED!'' the Dalek said fifty-seven minutes later. He analyzed the information. The Manhunters had taken notice of the Dalek and had sent agents to hunt after him all over the universe. They had rightfully seen him as a threat and decided to take him out.

What was more intriguing was the presence of the Manhunters home base. A year ago Hal Jordan destroyed the Manhunters home base of Biot. The Manhunters were able to construct a new mobile home base from a shattered chunk of their former homeworld, transforming it into a factory and armory center.

They were also developing new weapons to use against him. Obviously countermeasures had to be taken against the effects of the power draining batteries that the Manhunters were employing against him. And he knew just what to do.

The Dalek turned to the cat.

''I MUST REFIT MYSELF FOR ANTI-MANHUNTER OPERATIONS!''

* * *

Oa, it was the center of the universe and home to the most powerful military organization in history, the Green Lantern Corps. Here was the nerve center from which thousands of Lanterns received orders and training from. Here was the seat from which the Guardians policed the galaxy.

Elegant emerald buildings reached high into the sky, the only city on the otherwise barren planet. Living quarters and training halls made up the city along with more specialized buildings such as the Corps crypt and records hall. Dominating all of this was the Central Power Battery, the heart of the Green Lantern Corps's power.

Next to that was the Corps administration building, an ancient tower from which the Guardians' favored directed the Corps activities. Salaak the Corps administrator looked over dozens of green holograms and tapped one of his four hands in curiosity.

''Lantern Farren of Sector 1963 have you discovered any sign of this 'Dalek' yet?'' Salaak asked.

_''No, Lantern Salaak, I have not. I have questioned a group of smugglers here, but they do not know anything. I do intend to conduct a more complete sweep of my home sector.''_ Mita Farren was a seven foot tall, sixed-armed fish-like alien woman, having been recruited as one of the first new recruits when the Corps was reformed after Hal Jordan's rampage as Parallax.

''You sure it came from this Sector?'' Guy Gardner said. He was floating in the air, having healed from his wounds earlier. His ring sparked and flashed briefly, as if unable to contain the sheer amount of willpower and excitement within the Lantern. Gardner was itching for a rematch. Beside him was Soranik Natu, a beautiful red-skinned Korugarian.

''Quite sure. The earliest sighting of this Red Lantern come from that Sector.'' Salaak nodded. He turned to the image of Farren.

''Continue your search. Honor Lantern Gardner will be sent to help if you sight it. Do not engage it alone.'' Salaak told her.

_''Understood. Lantern 1963 out.''_ With that the hologram disappeared.

''I should be out there, tracking down that tin can.'' Gardner clenched his fists.

'It looks ridiculous.'' Soranik peered at it.

''Looks can be deceiving. This Red Lantern was able to defeat Lantern Gardner in combat and defeat the bounty hunter Lobo as well.'' Salaak brought up more ring construct images.

''And what's more it can think.'' Guy explained. ''It could make constructs and speak coherently.''

''Really?'' Natu asked, intrigued.

''Yeah, really. And it blew up Pluto. Pluto. The bastard's gonna pay for that.''

''Pluto? I thought your home system did not consider it a planet still.'' Natu asked.

''It's the principle that counts. I loved Pluto. Now it's gone.'' Guy lamented.

* * *

The Dalek floated in the air, watching as it finished completing the modifications to its battle armor. It then floated back into the compartment of his battle armor and closed it around him, once again linking the Dalek to its metallic home. One more it looked at the world through a viewscreen. Quickly it ran through a systems diagnostics check, pleased at the new changes.

It had taken some tinkering and improvisation, but the Dalek was able to successfully incorporate his power battery right into his armor, allowing for quick and easy recharge which would prevent his ring from drained by the Manhunters.

''Meow.''

''NOW I HAVE CALCULATED THE PRESENT LOCATIONS OF THE MANHUNTER BASES! WE WILL TRACK THEM DOWN AND EXTERMINATE THEM! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!''


	7. Hunting the Manhunters: Part Two

**Author's Notes:** Here is another chapter. Mita Farren is nto a canon GL. She is just a GL made up to fill the Sector 1963 position.

* * *

''Ring: scan the remains.'' Mita Farren said. She had recently come across another group of destroyed Manhunters. Over the past few days she had been tracking sightings of the Red Lantern all over the sector.

''Another one?'' Guy Gardner asked as he stood on a small asteroid and looked at the Manhunter remains held in his ring beam. He had just arrived recently in the sector to provide backup for the fish-like alien Lantern.

''**Status report completed: Crimson rage energy confirmed.''** The ring intoned.

''I guess that settles it. The pepperpot's having a little scuffle with the Manhunters.'' Guy mused.

''It appears so, although I wonder why they're fighting.'' Farren replied.

''It's a Red Lantern. The Manhunters probably looked at it the wrong way.'' Guy dismissed that thought.

''Probably. However can I say what an honor it is for an Honor Guard to be helping me?'' she asked him.

''Aw shucks I-''

''**Warning: Hyperspace distortion.**'' Both of their rings beeped. Guy turned around.

''Awright what's going on here-'' he was cut off mid-sentence by some sort of massive asteroid, emerged from a hyperspace distortion close enough for Guy's naked eye to discern details.

''What the hell's that? Ring: scan it!'' Guy commanded.

''**Scanning….identified as Manhunter technology.''** The ring said. As if on cue Manhunters emerged from side hangers in the massive station. First dozens then hundreds came out as they began to close in on the Lanterns position.

''Shit. Ring: sent a distress signal to Oa, this won't end well.'' Guy swore as he formed a pair of submachine gun constructs.

* * *

''THE PROGRAMMING IS COMPLETE.'' The Dalek told Dex-Starr who was lounging on the ground of the Manhunter transport. The Red Lantern looked up to the crimson pepperpot who moved back from the three Manhunters.

It had taken some effort on the part of the Dalek to capture the Manhunters in relatively intact condition, but it was all necessary as part of his plan. For the past several days the Dalek had used his downloaded knowledge to hunt down and destroy places of Manhunter activity with great enthusiasm. These Manhunters in particular had been repaired and reprogrammed for a special purpose, along with their captured Manhunter transport.

''WHO DO YOU SERVE!'' the Dalek demanded.

_''We serve the glory of the Daleks.''_ They intoned.

''BEGIN REPARIS TO THE SHIP. WE WILL PROCEED WITH PHASE TWO!'' the Dalek screeched before moving away. The Manhunter homebase was mighty, but the Dalek had plans to infiltrate and destroy them. He wasn't a veteran of the greatest war in all of space and time for nothing.

The Dalek looked around the Manhunter transport. It was a small ship mostly used by the Manhunters to transport raw materials, as the Manhunters themselves could achieve interstellar travel on their own. As such it held little personal luxury, but the Dalek did not care. Dalek had no concept of luxury and Dex-Starr was a cat.

''Meow.'' Dex-Starr nuzzled up to the Dalek's casing as it paused to observe several half-completed objects lying in one of the transports cargo holds. They were called blink bombs and the Dalek had acquired their schematics from his ring's database and he had begun his own construction of them. Materials were needed to construct them; however a power ring made strip-mining asteroids pathetically easy.

''YES DEX-STARR. WE WILL INFILTRATE THE MANHUNTERS. WE WILL GROW STRONGER AND WE WILL TRIUMPH. NOTHING WILL STAND IN MY WAY!'' The Dalek screeched.

* * *

The new command ship of the Manhunters was over forty kilometers long and ten kilometers wide, carved from one of the destroyed remnants of their dead homeworld, Biot, and riddled with added on metallic structures and weapon emplacements.

At the heart of his behemoth was the command bridge, a massive oval room with multiple command Manhunters plugged in directly to the ship itself, overseeing the operations and mechanics of the ship. Standing on a raised dais was the Grandmaster himself.

After the loss of Hank Henshaw a new Manhunter had been selected to lead them. The new Grandmaster resembled a conventional Manhunter, although he was almost twice as tall as a normal Manhunter and outfitted with superior command protocols and upgraded weaponry.

''_The Green Lanterns have been captured Grandmaster.''_ One of the command drones reported. The Grandmaster's head shifted ever so slightly.

''_Bring them to the central reactor room and prepare to hook them up to our power generators.''_ The Grandmaster commanded. The Manhunters had used Green Lanterns as power sources for their Highmasters before, now they would be used as a power source for the battleship, to enhance its weapon systems and to increase unit production by 89%.

''_It will be done.''_ The command drone responded as the Grandmaster shifted his attention away.

Meanwhile in another section of the ship a command Manhunter monitored the passage of Manhunters coming in and out of the system, hailing and confirming the presence of each one as they landed in the hanger bays.

''_Transport craft 12448 reporting.''_ came the monotone voice of a Manhunter over the communications system.

''_Enter identification code.''_ The command Manhunter responded just as emotionlessly. There was a burst of data-stream code before the command Manhunter confirmed it and sanctioned the ship's entrance.

* * *

Inside one of the side hanger days of the Manhunter battleships, various Manhunter workers stood up in perfect formation and various cranes unloading equipment activated. A sleek Manhunter transport flew into the simple grey interior bay and settled down.

A pair of Manhunters marched up to the craft as its cargo bay lowered down and three more Manhunters walked down to meet them. The other Manhunters looked over them and the bay curiously.

''_Where are your shipments?''_ one demanded. He was promptly answered by a laser baton blast to the face. Quickly his companion was gunned down in a similar matter. All around them several more Manhunters moved in.

''_Alert! Alert! Malfunctioning units!''_ one of the Manhunters intoned. Then something flew out from the ship.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek screeched, promptly blasting one of the Manhunters to bits while Dex-Starr flew behind him and proceeded to vomit more flaming blood right on another Manhunter.

''_No man escapes the Manhunters!''_

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek proceeded to create more Dalek constructs that followed him into the firefight, the Dalek's personal shields absorbing hit after hit as the Red Lantern dove eagerly into the group of Manhunters around him.

''EXTERMINATE! ANNHILATE! DESTROY!''

The room was filled with dozens of Manhunters. The Dalek destroyed group after group until four minutes after he had arrived in the hanger bay all the Manhunters were laying on the floor as slagged husks.

''MANHUNTERS EXTERMINATED! RED LANTERNS ARE VICTORIOUS!'' The Dalek shouted in its harsh grating voice as it flew over to a nearby computer terminal and pressed it's plunger to the access port. It quickly dove past the Manhunter firewalls.

Interesting. Two Green Lanterns had been sighted and captured. They were to be used to power the Highmaster units. Normally the Dalek would not have been especially concerned about them at this point in his plan, however they would make decent distractions for the Manhunters if he freed them, leaving the Dalek more time for his plan.

''UPLOADING VIRUS!'' the Dalek watched as all signals flared green and it's virus promptly downloaded itself into the Manhunter operating systems 0.17 rels after he uploaded it, Manhunter communications across the battleships began to crash.

''VIRUS UPLOADED! PHASE ONE COMPLETED! BEGIN PHASE TWO!'' the Dalek turned its attention to the ship. A single red energy construct floated down, containing the precious blink bomb cargo, a weapon constructed by the Red Lantern and enhanced by Dalek science.

The pepperpot-shaped Red Lantern turned around to access the computer systems again and opened a nearby lift. The Dalek then proceeded to drive over to the lift, followed by several Dalek drone constructs and the blink bomb.

''Meow.'' Dex-Starr flew in and perched atop one of the Dalek drone constructs.

''BEGIN PHASE TWO!''

* * *

Guy Gardner hung unconscious in the middle of the Manhunter reaction room, an immense circular chamber lined with countless nano-fusion generators hooked up into the rock of the former asteroid to various needed sub-systems.

He and Farren had put up an incredible fight before finally going down, taking down dozens of Manhunters before they were finally overwhelmed and captured to be brought to the central reactor room. There they hung, placed inside converted Highmaster chest units, used as living batteries for those war machines.

The doors in the lift opened up to reveal the Dalek who promptly rolled out and blasted the first Manhunter as it flew up. At that familiar sound of ''EXTERMINATE!'' Guy perked up,recognizing the electronic grating tone.

Across the vast chamber the Dalek's constructs followed their creator, gunsticks blasting volley after volley into the Manhunters who flew in, their own power batons spitting out return fire. The chamber was a storm of energy blasts between the two, various equipment catching from fire the Dalek's fiery blood blasts.

''EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!''

''_No man escapes the Manhunters.''_

''EXTERMINATE!''

''_No man escapes the Manhunters.''_

The Dalek blasted apart yet another Manhunter and focused right on the area were the two Green Lanterns were held. His sensors detected Highmaster equipment, used to drain a Lantern as a power battery for those advanced Manhunter constructs.

A Manhunter flew up, faceplate opening.

''_Initiating power retrieval-''_ it began.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek quickly formed a chainsaw construct, chopping the Manhunter in half. He turned to face Dex-Starr and his constructs.

''PROVIDE COVERING FIRE!'' the Dalek commanded.

''WE OBEY!'' shrieked the constructs as they moved in to protect their master. The Dalek moved up to one of the nearby units and pressed it's plunger to an access port. Within seconds he unlocked both of the Lanterns from their power draining units.

Guy and Farren fell to the ground with a light thud as the red-headed Green Lantern got up groggily, clearing his senses. His ears sounded with the constant battlecries of both the Daleks and the Manhunters as he spotted the pepperpot shape of the Dalek turn away from him.

''Hey wait you-'' Guy raised his ring to point at the Dalek only for a Manhunter to move in and grapple with him.

''Not now Lantern Gardner! We have to get out of here and call in backup!'' Farren shouted, using her ring to form some sort of strange multi-barreled cannon construct to blast a Manhunter.

''Yeah, yeah I know!'' Guy shouted as he punched away a Manhunter with a giant green fist and beheaded it with a scissor construct

''**Warning: power levels at 3%.''** His ring intoned. Guy cursed and summoned his power battery and began to recharge his ring hurriedly.

The Dalek turned his attention away from the Green Lanterns. They had served their purpose enough, now the Manhunter would be focused on them while the Dalek proceeded with his plans. All around him the central reactor chamber was filled with Manhunters and his own Dalek drone constructs engaged in bloody battle. Above Dex-Starr was vomiting blood at anything Manhunter -shaped.

''ACTIVATE AND PRIME THE BLINK BOMB!'' the Dalek screeched as the carrying construct was brought in. A binary feed command later and in a second the countdown process of the blink bomb was started as the Dalek flew up towards the exit.

''WITHDRAW! WITHDRAW!'' The Dalek began to fly upwards towards the nearest ventilation shaft.

''Hey tincan come right back-'' Guy began to fly up to meet him only to be spotted by another squad of Manhunters who quickly surrounded him.

''Lantern Gardner! They have deployed a blink bomb! We have to get out of here!'' Farren shouted. Guy paused to look. Yep, there was a blink bomb alright. He cursed and flew off after Farren as she did her best to extract herself.

Meanwhile the Dalek headed through an access shaft, Dex-Starr following him as the Dalek followed its downloaded plans, twisting and turning through the shafts, on occasion blasting whatever obstructions were in the way until he emerged in the void of space.

Behind, in the central reactor room, the countdown on the blink bomb reached zero. In a flash the center of the battleships burst, like an overripe grape, before finally breaking apart in a second series of chain reactions. In a truly immense explosion the Manhunter's new home was annihilated.

* * *

Guy Gardner dropped his shield as he looked around. He was in the middle of space having just escaped from the Manhunter ship.

''Farren?''

''I'm alive Lantern Gardner.'' Mita Farren dropped her shields and looked around.

''Not again!'' Guy wheezed. For a second time in less than three days he had been caught in yet another massive explosion, this time he was more fortunate, being at the outer edges of the explosion when the Manhunter warships broke apart.

The Manhunter asteroid ship, forth kilometers long, was now effectively tiny chunks of rock and space dust now. Perhaps not every Manhunter had been destroyed by the blast, but they had been dealt a heavy blow.

''Well….that was certainly climatic. Ring: scan for the Red Lanterns.'' Farren commanded.

''**Scanning: Crimson energy has disappeared in hyperspace distortion.''** The ring reported.

''Well, at least it wasn't Pluto this time.'' Guy muttered.


	8. The Reach

**Author's Note:** The Reach here are a mix of their Pre-Reboot selves and their Post-Reboot selves if anyone has any issues with their depiction.

* * *

After the destruction of the Manhunter ship, the Dalek had fled, taking refuge on a remote asteroid on Sector 1954 with Dex-Starr. The Red Lanterns currently stood on the surface of an asteroid facing the gleaming yellow brilliance of a nearby sun. Inside the Dalek stewed with thoughts.

It had succeeded with taking out the main Manhunter base ship and wrecking the Manhunter operations. They would have a very hard time coming back from that anytime soon, but the Dalek knew it was inevitable that they would return eventually. It could not have possible eliminated every last Manhunter in the universe.

But it could very well try and Daleks were nothing but if tenacious.

**''Scans completed.''** His ring reported. The Dalek turned to see the form of Dex-Starr on the nearby asteroid. Curious as to the nature of the other Red Lantern's mindless behavior, the Dalek has launched a complete scan of Dex-Starr's body.

Pausing to pull up his own internal databanks about Earth felines and that which the ring provided, the Dalek ran a cross-reference between the two, which was completed in about 0.37 rels. Dex-Starr was largely a normal earth cat save that his blood had been replaced by a napalm liquid and there was usual mental activity.

So the scan was not of much help, merely to serve to confirm the Dalek's own suspicions about the nature of the red rings. Daleks, being creature of wrath and hate, were largely unaffected by the nature of the red ring which sought to overwhelm them.

''**Alert, planetary distress signal received in current sector''** the ring said.

''ELABORATE!''

''**Planet Senfar Major is currently issuing a distress signal to all available parties. The Reach have invaded.''**

''THE REACH? THEY ARE AN ENEMY OF THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS. THEY HOLD POWERFUL TECHNOLOGY! THIS MUST BE INVESTIGATED! INVESTIGATE! INVESTIGATE!'' the Dalek screeched. The reach had piqued his interest when he learned of a Reach unit on Earth. He had been planning to investigate the Reach later on, but this was an opportunity the Dalek decided not to pass up.

''EARTH FELINE FOLLOW ME! WE MUST INVESTIGATE!''

* * *

Command drone Lux-Kar looked over the green orb of Senfar Major in the viewing screen of the Reach cruiser. He lazily flicked one claw out to signal a scarab warrior unit to silence a communications grid. All across his command pulpit scrolled various information monitoring the world below.

Senfar Prime was a highly advanced world in the cusp of true space major spaceflight with vast armies and highly advanced weaponry. It had rated such a sufficiently high threat grade that perhaps even a single Reach scarab, world-killers though they may be, might not have been sufficient.

So a half-dozen scarab warriors and a Reach battlecruiser under the command of Lux-Kar, a veteran of one hundred and eighty-nine planetary conquests, had been chosen to moved the conquest along faster and secure victory. Senfar Prime, for all its defenses and armies, had fallen in less than two days, the infiltrator unit slowly killing off the world's leaders and metahuman defenders while Lux-Kar had sent in two more scarab units to help finish the job.

Lux-Kar himself was a tall vaguely humanoid-like being before he was taken over by a scarab unit countless years ago. Now he was a tall slender warrior in blue and black armor that was bonded to his very flesh and blood.

''Commander, the sensors are picking up a hyperspace distortion in the system.'' One of the tech-drones replied. They were small, spider-like creatures bred to handle the technical and engineering aspects of the ship.

''Well who are our uninvited guests?'' the command-drone asked.

''Scanning, Red Lanterns sir. Two of them bearing mark five-six-nine.''

''Anything else?''

''One of them seems to be a feline creature from Earth in Sector 2814. I cannot identify the other.''

''Explain'' Lux-Kar asked.

''We have no record of it in our databanks.''

''I see, send out all our remaining scarab warriors to deal with them.'' Khadji-Kar was actually apprehensive for the first time in a long while. The Green Lanterns were mortal enemies of the Reach, but the Reach were also enemies to the other Corps as well. Of all the Corps even the Reach knew full well of the reputation the Red Lanterns had.

They would not interfere in this conquest. This would be a great prize for the Reach.

* * *

''**Destination reached. Hyperspace journey has ended.''**

The Dalek came out of the hyperspace followed by Dex-Starr outside the planet of Senfar Major. In the distance a green orb hung in space, the fourth planet from the system's central star. The Dalek proceeded to make a beeline for the planet, followed by Dex-Starr.

''LAUNCHING SCANS!''

''**Scans detect Reach ship in orbit. Threat rating: moderate. ''**

''THE STATUS OF THE PLANET!''

''**World has reached a Class-Four Destruction event. Armed forces are annihilated and massive cultural damage has been wreaked.''**

''IRRELEVANT. WHAT IS THE STRENGTH OF THE ENEMY?''

''**Three Reach units detected on the planet below. Four signatures departing from the Reach cruiser.''**

* * *

Khadji-Dalle was a veteran of twenty-seven planetary conquests. Right now he was leading a team of three fellow Scarab warriors to confront the pair of Red Lanterns that were currently streaking through the void of space like a pair of crimson comets.

''HALT! YOU WILL SURRENDER AND PLACE YOURSELF INTO MY CUSTODY!'' the first of the Red Lanterns shrieked, it's ''ears'' flashing with lights as it spoke. Khadji-Dalle paused for only a moment to realize that a Red Lantern was speaking before he transformed one arm into a plasma cannon and proceeded to blast the Red Lantern.

The Dalek reeled back, surprised at the initial power of the Reach weaponry. He had underestimated initially just how advanced the Scarab warriors really where. But true to form it swerved about and responded.

''EXTERMINATE!'' he promptly blasted another Reach warrior as Dex-Starr flew in hissing. The cat leapt into action hissing and vomiting blood at the nearest Reach warrior.

''EXTERMINATE THE REACH!'' the Dalek fired off another blast at the Scarab warriors, who split up, one transforming into a bulkier version of itself while the other transformed it's other arm into some sort of missile launcher, firing several scarab-shaped missiles into the void at the Red Lantern.

The Dalek paused to form a set of shield constructs to counter the missiles and then to form a pair of his own missile constructs to respond. The Reach missiles detonated his shields with the force of a comet strike, covering the void in azure cosmic fire. Then the Dalek swopped in, a new set of construct weaponry made as it blasted one Reach warrior away. Two more swooped in, one launching a hail of blasts while the other formed a pair of sword-like claws with its suit.

The Dalek formed a pair of chainsaw constructs and blocked the scarab warrior's attack before forming some sort of crimson construct prison around it. It was a Spacetime Molecule Splitter, used normally as a demolition device by the Daleks. In another second the Dalek paused to launch of a torrent of pure chronotron particles from the device, ripping the scarab warrior apart in a barrage of spacetime energy.

''EXTERMINATE! ANNHILATE! DESTROY!''

To the other the Dalek formed another cannon, this one much bigger and pointed it at the Reach warrior that formed an armored shield out of its wings. A truly massive blast sent the scarab warrior flying far off into the distance, to impact on the planet below.

Now that was taken care of, the Dalek turned it's attention to the last two scarab warriors, one which was forming it's arms into some sort of multi-barreled cannon and blade while the other was engaged with a violent battle with Dex-Starr.

''EXTERMINATE! ATTACK!'' the Dalek formed up two crimson Dalek assault constructs, each with two gunsticks apiece, to rain a volley of blasts at the Scarab warrior who ducked and weaved out of the way, his own cannons blasting away. Then behind the Scarab warrior, the Dalek summoned forth a powerful gravity generator construct and activated it.

The crimson construct began dragging the scarab warrior in, the artificial gravity too much every for the Reach suit to compensate for. The Dalek then paused to aim, its battle computer locking on with relish, before the Dalek fired.

''EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!'' blast after blast after blast hit the scarab warrior until the Reach agent finally melted away in crimson fire, it's defenses utterly worn down. With that taken care of, the Dalek swooped in to the Reach warrior fighting Dex-Starr.

The warrior's armor was half-melted and warped by the cat's red breath when the Dalek formed a buzzaw construct and slashed right into the scarab warrior's side. The Reach trooper responded by whipping out one larger energy cannon before firing off a series of blasts and insectiod missiles.

The Dalek tanked the blasts, his red energy shields flaring repeatedly as the Dalek threw up another set of shields. One of the missiles veered off to impact with one of Senfar Major's moon, on impact it exploded, taking out a continent-sized chunk of the moon.

The Dalek formed a massive chainsaw before creating a set of tentacles to restrain the scarab warrior. With an electronic shriek of 'EXTERMINATE' the Dalek proceeded to hack right at the scarab warrior's neck and behead the Reach warrior.

Tossing away the corpse the Dalek flew towards the Reach ship, Dex-Starr in tow.

* * *

Command Drone Lux-Kar was not having a good day. He watched the life signs of four of his best planet-killing warriors disappear from the systems monitor. Another scene showed the rapid approach of the Red Lanterns. His mandibles clicked in worry.

''Get us out of here now.'' He commanded.

''What about the warriors on the surface?'' asked a tech-drone.

''Now.'' screamed the command-drone.

''As you command, initializing warp engines-'' the tech drone began. Then the ship shook violently.

''What was that?'' Lux-Kar shouted.

''They just took out our engines. They're also blasting through the ship itself!'' said the tech-drone.

''Recall the surface units now!'' the command-drone screamed. Then the bridge seemed to explode in red fire.

* * *

''Please don't kill me! I'm just a menial here!'' begged one of the servitor drones.

''EXTERMINATE!'' shrieked the Dalek as it blasted the menial to ash and moved around. Behind him Dex-Starr feasted on the bodies of the slain menials as several more Dalek constructs moved throughout the ship, exterminating anything that moved.

''SEEK! LOCATE! DESTROY!'' they shouted. The Red Lantern meanwhile moved up to a nearby door and formed a laser-cutting construct.

''BEGINNING BREACHING PROCEDURE!'' it began cutting away the door at the engines before blasting away the rest of it with a blast from its gunstick, filling he bridge with crimson fire. The Dalek rolled in, flames licking at its casing. Whatever the bridge look liked before it was now an utter wreck.

Before it was a tall slender being in Reach armor, with two of its four arms blown off and the other two morphed into some sort of weaponry. It got up battered bleeding and broken to point it's weapons at the Dalek.

''What are you!'' he looked up at the Dalek.

''I AM YOUR DESTRUCTION. I AM A DALEK!''

''You won't get away with this. This is just one ship. The Reach has many more. You have brought a war of destruction upon yourself.'' Lux-Kar boasted.

''THIS IS NOT WAR! THIS IS PEST CONTROL!''

''The Reach will hunt you down and destroy you.'' Lux-Kar said, his voice frantic with apprehension. Even if he was to die he would let his attacker know just how doomed he was.

''They'll break you and grind you into cosmic dust. Two Red Lanterns stand no chance against our might.'' The command-drone continued, his voice rising higher.

''THE REACH ARE INFERIOR! YOU ARE SUPERIOR IN ONLY ONE RESPECT!'' the Dalek raised his gunstick and blasted Command-Drone Lux-Kar to molten slag.

''YOU ARE BETTER AT DYING!''


	9. A Superhero

**Author's Note**: Here is another chapter. This was orignnaly several snippits joined together.

Comments and reviews are welcomed.

* * *

The Dalek looked over the remnants of the Scarab armor that it had gathered from the bodies of the slain Reach warriors. After it had taken out the ship it had promptly exterminated the remaining three Reach infiltrators on Senfar Prime before returning to the Reach ship to complete its investigations. It grabbed whatever it could to store in a massive construct saucer before blowing up the ship before the Reach could arrive with reinforcements.

It had spent days analyzing the alien technology to limited results, the Reach's technology was seemingly anathema to Oan or Oan-derived technology. Attempts to hack the Reach's database had mixed results, with even his ring having difficulty translating the Reach script. The Reach had seemingly programmed every aspect of their technology to be hostile to the Lantern Corps.

However the Dalek was undeterred. It was not one of the Dalek Scientist castes that had spearheaded the Dalek research into developing weapons in the Time War, but it certainly understood enough to begin at least preliminary speculations as to how the technology worked.

The ring had already provided information on observed Reach abilities, including the shape shifting and formation of weapons. The Dalek's own scans during the battle and after had confirmed the presence of mass-shifting and dimensional manipulation technology.

Even by the Dalek's standards these weapons were advanced. They were meant to conquer entire worlds and combat a Lantern. Fighting them all had not been very easy. If the Dalek had not had his red power ring then things would have been very difficult indeed.

It was one of those things about this new reality, about how much advanced technology these various races had in comparison to the Daleks. Oh, on a grand scale the Dalek Empire had all sorts of galaxy-busting weaponry and time-warping technology to rival the Time Lords at their height, but in certain areas the Daleks were trumped, the Dalek's own power ring being a good example and now the Reach technology.

It was confusing, to say the least.

But the Dalek dismissed that thought from his mind. It was unimportant and non-Dalek to think such things. It had already more important tasks to attend to. It turned its thoughts back to Earth.

Earth had already proved to have an unusually high concentration of superpowered beings in the universe, and had the distinction of being protected by no less than four Lanterns. It had also evidently been the epicenter of some very important cosmic events. It bore merit to investigate.

Especially the possible existence of the so called White Lantern Corps.

However that could prove problematic with said large metahuman population and the presence of multiple Lanterns. Oa had its eye on that world and if the Dalek moved too brazenly he might attract too much attention.

He shifted through his databanks again, looking through Earth's recorded history. In the grand scheme of things, metahumans had only appeared in large numbers during the last century, an eyeblink to a Dalek who had fought in the vastness of the Time War.

The Dalek was no expert on human culture, finding much of it to be incomprehensible or simply illogical, however despite their recent origins these metahumans had become an integral part of human culture on Earth and many of them had grown to be revered as public figures.

His recent conflict with the Reach had provided inspiration for his next plans. The Reach had often sent in a Scarab warrior to infiltrate the structure of a world as to not arouse suspicion until the time of conquest was right. The Daleks had employed stealth and guile when brute force would have been impractical before. Pretending to be harmless was not a tactic unknown to the Daleks. It already began to form an idea of how to conduct its investigations on Earth. Yes, it would pose as one of their colorful metahuman defenders and earn public trust to cloak it's true operations.

The Dalek's eyestalk turned to see Dex-Starr curled up on a rock, yawning.

''EARTH FELINE! I MUST BECOME A SUPERHERO!''

* * *

The Dalek looked around the abandoned warehouse it had commandeered as a base of operations for its current stay on Earth. Its own crude laboratory was slowly being set up and prepared piece by piece and bit by bit.

Apparently according to the research he had done, secret bases and secret identities were often used by the local metahuman population. He had already secured his own secret base and was preparing its own ''secret identify'' of sorts.

It had arrived in this planetary system a few days ago, using a local meteor shower to mask his movements so he would not be detected. For the moment Dex-Starr had to be left behind. Normal Red Lanterns were not suited for stealth operations. He had landed in the Atlantic Ocean and flew to the nearest shore and made his way to civilization with his cache of supplies in tow.

Right now he was in the city that the humans called New York. Apparently it was one of their thriving urban centers with a high population. Here the Dalek would begin its operations to infiltrate into human society.

It had also conducted research into human popular culture. Intrigued by Guy Gardner's reference to ''R2-D2'' the Dalek had taken pains to procure copies of the human cultural phenomenon called ''Star Wars.'' The result of watching Episode I could only be described as stunned rage and utter incomprehension. Humans were simply insane.

Human mass media aside, the Dalek was now completing a special unit. Something that would allow him to infiltrate humanity society directly in places a Dalek could not reach. It was going to be a carefully crafted being of Dalek and Manhunter technology. Then suddenly his armor alerted the Dalek. He had hooked up his communications systems to monitor a police scanner. There evidently was some sort of commotion on a nearby ferry. A metahuman commotion. This bore some investigating.

* * *

It was after dark as the Dalek soared through the nighttime air, having left its headquarters in order to respond to this threat. He quickly located some sort of nearby ferry that appeared to be on fire. Quickly the Dalek headed towards it.

The Dalek landed on the deck with a thud and looked around. It proceeded to move around the boat, observing the fine construction of the yacht. It had never been on an ocean sailing vessel before. Daleks had never really employed such things. Scans revealed the presence of eight life signs, which then dropped to six. People were dying evidently. The Dalek then used the power ring to phase through the decks until he reached the area where he detected the human life signs.

The Dalek plopped to the ground to see, what looked like some sort of short dwarf standing in top of a table while several people were apparently engaged in clawing their throats out in spasms of utter horror and fear. The dwarf turned and looked at him. The Dalek promptly accessed his files. Dr. Psycho, an enemy of Wonder Woman and a powerful telepath. Most likely on another one of his murder sprees.

''YOU ARE EDGAR CIZKO. YOU ARE A CRIMINAL.'' The Dalek stated.

''Really? Gee, I didn't know.'' The dwarf gave an ugly grin and hopped down. ''And who are you?''

''I AM A SUPERHERO!''

The dwarf blinked at him in disbelief, looking over the Dalek's strange shape.

''What are you? A robot? No, I can sense a living mind in you. Let's take a look shall we.'' The villain known as Dr. Psycho focused.

''NO! YOU WILL DESIST! DESIST!'' the Dalek told him as suddenly the Dalek felt a sharp spike stab at his mind and then-

* * *

_-''PRESS THE ATTACK! SEIZE THE GATES OF ELYSIUM!'' screamed the Supreme Dalek in the bridge._

_All across the fleet there was chorus of affirmatives as the Dalek kill cruisers and battleships moved in to engage with the vast fleet of WarTARDIS that the Time Lords had employed to defend their base here, right at the heart of the temporal anomaly known as the Gates of Elysium._

_Weapons of unimaginable power were unleashed. Weapons that attacked in multiple dimensions and across time itself were hurled at the two opposing battlefleets as they moved to engage. Here a Dalek battleship was cast into oblivion, in another a Time Lord WarTARDIS was annihilated by Dalek weaponry._

_Below more Dalek ships and countless squadrons of Dalek Drones flew down through the Maelstrom of Time Lord firepower from Elysium itself to engage in closer ground warfare. Below the temporal shielding of the planet below flared under the barrage of countless missile._

_On the bridge of the central command cruiser the Dalek monitored his station dutifully and attentively, directing his weaponry were needed and altering the course adjustments as sent by the Time-Controller Dalek. Then something flashed on his sensor banks._

''_WARNING! NIGHTMARE CHILD EMERGING!'' the Dalek shrieked._

''_EMERGENCY! CONDUCT EMERGENCY MANEUVERS!'' the Command Dalek screeched, and with good reason. Even among the Daleks the twisted abomination known as the Nightmare Child was feared and avoided._

_As the Dalek command ship veered out of the battle, the time-warping astral monster emerged from whatever plane of reality it had stayed in this time. Awakened by the Time War and the countless deaths that had resulted in it, the Nightmare Child extended immense tendrils of pure fear among the battling fleets._

_Entire ships were swallowed up, their crews driven to utter madness as the Nightmare Child hungrily sucked them all in, feasting on their minds and souls. Then the Dalek noticed something else on ship's monitor._

''_DAVROS'S SHIP IS ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH THE NIGHTMARE CHILD! SHALL WE RECOVER HIM?'' The creator of the Daleks had been present alongside the Dalek Emperor when the war started and given his own command. He may have been inferior, but the Daleks took everything they could get in their war against the most powerful race in the universe._

''_NEGATIVE. HE HAD SERVED HIS PURPOSE. I WLL NOT RISK MY COMMAND BY GOING NEAR THE NIGHTMARE CHILD.'' The Command Dalek said._

''_I OBEY.''-_

* * *

_-The Dalek sat before a monitoring computer, looking over the vast golden ship before him. This had been constructed to some very exact specifications at the behest of some of the highest ranking officers in the Dalek hierarchy. Right now the Dalek was overseeing its final testing for its prepared departure along with a dozen other Dalek drones working on minor technical issues._

_At the end of the room the doors slid open and four Daleks entered, escorting some sort of spherical device rolled in. Three of them were bronze, but the lead one had his casing painted jet black, the black of a Dalek Supreme._

_The Cult of Skaro. The legendary Dalek black ops elite. The Dalek never thought he would meet them eyestalk to eyestalk. But now they had commandeered this garrison with explicit orders to construct a special ship for some sort of operation._

''_ARE FINAL PREPERATIONS COMPLETE?'' Dalek Sec asked._

''_THEY ARE EXACTLY AS YOU PREDICTED THEY WOULD BE DALEK SEC.'' the Dalek said._

''_EXCELLENT. OPEN THE VOID SHIP. WE WILL DEPART.'' Sec said._

_The Dalek was surprised. ''WHY ARE YOU LEAVING SO SOON?''_

''_DO NOT QUESTION! OBEY! OBEY!'' Dalek Jast shrieked._

''_I OBEY.'' The Dalek turned back to its work. The Cult proceeded to move up the ramp in formation, eyestalks moving from side to side. He watched as the Cult lifted on to the void ship._

''_SEAL THE SHIP!'' Sec commanded._

''_I OBEY.''-_

* * *

_-Fire. He remembered fire, fighting in the void of space alongside his platoon when a WarTARDIS detonated some sort of missile at Arcadia. Time warped and changed as a Dalek saucer nearby tried to time shift out of the blast with the Dalek caught in the middle._

_Screaming, he was torn through time and space, falling and falling through the skies until he landed on some sort of ground. He then waited for so long, screaming before the humans found him. He remembered being carted away like a prize. It activated its distress signal and waited. He waited for so long….._

''_Look I'm sorry about this, Mr Van Statten might think he's clever but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor.''_

_The Dalek perked up from its silence in the darkness. The Doctor here? The Oncoming Storm here? The greatest enemy of the Dalek race?_

''_DOC-TOR?'' he asked._

''_Impossible'' the Doctor breathed in horror._

''_THE DOC-TOR? EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!'' he had shrieked.-_

* * *

Dr. Psycho fell to the ground, gasping in pain as he vomited blood. The feedback from his attempted mental invasion had produced a severe backlash. He wanted to make these strange pepperpot into his mental puppet and force it to commit suicide, like he had done with the passengers of this boat. Suffice to say that had not gone entirely to plan.

''W-what are you? What the fuck are you?'' Psycho screamed. Such rage. He had never felt such boiling rage and hatred from any kind of living being. That was not something he was ever going to try again.

''I AM A DALEK! I AM RAGE! YOU HAVE DARED DEFILE MY MIND!'' The Dalek shrieked in burning rage. He advanced in Psycho, eyestalk burning with hate.

''Please, mercy. You're a hero right?'' Psycho begged, crawling back.

''YOU HAVE SEEN MY MIND. YOU SHOULD KNOW DALEKS HAVE NO CONCEPT OF MERCY!'' the Dalek leveled his gunstick and promptly blew Psycho to bits.

After that was accomplished the Dalek scanned the rest of the yacht. Everyone else had committed suicide. It had arrived too late. So far its first foray into superherodom was not a spectacular success. However it had learned some vitally important things. He would have to strength its telepathic inhibitors and be more carefully next time. It would not allow a telepath access to his mind again.

With that the Dalek turned and left.


	10. Metropolis

**Author's Note:** Not much to say. It's another snippit.

* * *

The train stopped in the Metropolis station. Coming six to seven from Gateway City, it was loaded with a variety of goods and products intended to the local industry of the city. Like every vehicle used by LexCorp, it was lead lined at Lex Luthor's demands.

That made it quite useful for infiltration purposes, the Dalek mused. It had used the lead-lined trains as a test run for the initial part of its journey into Metropolis, one of America's largest and most important cities. It had made its initial base in New York City, but Metropolis was something it intended to investigate. It was one of the biggest metahuman hotspots on Earth.

That and it was host to LexCorp, one of the significant financial and cultural entities on this planet. The Dalek understood the concept of economics and currency among non-Dalek species, he just thought it ridiculous and another concept of non-Dalek inferiority. Daleks had no need of currency or personal need for unnecessary items. It was just a sign of human insanity to obsess over currency.

The human Luthor was also a symbol of human insanity. A criminal deviant he was seemingly able to manipulate the legal system of the humans as to remain untouchable, despite his apparent deviant activities.

Luthor also wielded an enormous amount of political and social influence. He would have to be carefully dealt with when the time came. He also apparently possessed a high intelligence, although the Dalek had dealt with worse in the Time War.

The Dalek flew over the milling crowds below, using his power ring to affect the light rays around him as to render himself invisible to the humans below, just one of the many features that the Dalek made use of. It was almost a waste really, a power ring was capable of so much, yet most Red Lanterns lacked the mentality to use it properly.

It looked over Metropolis, eyestalk moving up and down. It was…interesting. That was the best way the Dalek could describe it. By any human standard Metropolis was a shining example of American progress, beautiful and grand. Daleks had no concept of beauty however, something like that was irrelevant to Dalek sensibility, but perhaps it was the human factor in the Dalek's genetics that caused it to feel something akin to admiration of the architecture.

It continued to scan the city, hoping to find any unusual activity. It caught traces of lead in the tunnels, as expected. It caught various traces of some sort of unusual extra dimensional energy that the ring had registered as Black Lantern energy.

That energy was one of the reasons here. There were two main concentrations of that on the planet, here and at Coast City. However the energy at Coast City was only to be expected, as it had housed the Black Central Power Battery during Blackest Night. He would have to try and find out that concentration here.

* * *

Sam Jonson of the Metropolis Police Department looked up at the massive Teddy Bear robot being piloted by Toyman hold a school bus full of screaming children while several toy soldier robots formed a perimeter surrounding the Toyman.

''What does he want?'' Jonson asked.

''Superman apparently.'' One of the police officers told him.

''But isn't he fighting Metallo on 42nd Street?'' Jonson asked.

''Yea, that's the bad part.'' One of the police officers said grimly.

The bus shifted in the hands of the huge teddy bear mecha.

''Bring him to me! I meant revenge. I'll kill them you hear? I'll kill them!'' shrieked Toyman from the suit's loudspeakers. The children screamed as he rolled the bus around in the suit's massive paws. Then another shape arrived from the sky.

''CEASE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY!'' shrieked the Dalek. The Teddy bear mecha turned to look at him.

''What the- stay back! I have hostages!'' Toyman told him. The police below paused in disbelief to look up at the strange flying contraption that hovered in the air to face the large battlesuit.

Suddenly a crimson shield coated the bus as the Dalek formed a large scissor construct, rapidly cutting off the mecha suit's hands, while bringing the schoolbus of children to safety. The battlesuit stepped back shakily as the toy soldiers below lifted their weapons.

''Kill him!'' Toyman shrieked as the toy soldiers below opened fire, their bullets harmless plinking off the red shields of the Dalek who looked down at them with its eyestalk. After a moment it formed a massive plunger and smashed all the toy soldiers. Meanwhile the Toyman's battlesuit opened fire with its own weaponry, which the Dalek blocked by setting up a huge set of crimson construct shields.

The Dalek paused to scan the battlesuit before conjuring up a host of tentacle and claw constructs to promptly rip apart the battlesuit piece by piece, the Toyman himself falling to the ground in a shattered cockpit. Rapidly, the Toyman scrambled from the wrecked cockpit and attempted to activate his jetpack. The Dalek turned to look at the escaping villain before lining him up with his gunstick.

The urge to exterminate the Toyman was almost overpowering, to annihilate the hated non-Dalek was built solidly into the core of the Dalek's being. However the local superhero community had something against the use of killing force for criminal deviants, an insane illogical rule. In Dalek society any defective units would simply be exterminated.

But he could not afford to make any overt moves yet. He was lucky no one had connected him to his abortive attempt at apprehending Dr. Psycho earlier. So the Dalek tracked the Toyman's flight and for the first time in his life he turned his gunstick to the ''stun'' setting and dropped the Toyman.

As the Toyman plummeted to the ground the Dalek set down the schoolbus full of children before scanning the transportation vehicle for any injuries. He found no major life-threatening injuries present at all.

''YOU ARE SAFE. YOU MAY EXIT THE VEHICLE AND ACCOMPANY THE MEDICAL CREW!'' the Dalek said.

Sam Jonson stepped out from behind the police barricade to look at the strange floating pepperpot who had just recued a busload of children. He waved back several armored SWAT officers as he approached the thing.

''Who are you?''' he asked. The thing's periscope eye turned to look at him.

''I AM A SUPERHERO!'' the Dalek said, before it flew off.

* * *

Several city blocks away Metallo strode over to the fallen form of Superman on the ground. All around him the nearby freeway was wrecked with the results of Metallo's latest rampage on the nearest civilian area. At the ends of the freeway the police set up barricades to keep the civilians back.

''How do you like my upgrades Superman? My benefactors had made some interesting improvements to my weapon systems.'' Metallo said, his chestpiece opened, forcing Superman back with the highly lethal green element.

''Yes! Cower before what is poison to you-'' Metallo was interrupted by the landing of the Dalek, who touched the ground softly with a thud and moved forward. If the cyborg could blink he would have at the strange sight. Superman looked up to recognize the being from Kyle's briefing.

''KYPTONITE RADIATION DETECTED! DESIST! DESIST AND PLACE YOURSELF INTO CUSTODY!'' The Dalek shrieked.

''Is this some sort of joke?'' Metallo looked back at Superman. ''Is this some sort of distrac-''

While he was speaking, the Dalek paused to form a claw construct and promptly ripped out Metallo's exposed kryptonite chest piece. Metallo's eyepieces flickered off and his cybernetic body slumped to the ground defeated.

The Dalek paused for a moment to scan the Kryptonite and its radiation before tossing it far away from Superman and himself. That taken care of, the Dalek scanned Metallo's body to find his reserve life support systems had kicked in. As Metallo rose, the Dalek promptly use its ring to activate a localized EMP pulse deactivate everything but immediate life support.

''METALLO HAS BEEN DEFEATED! HE IS INACTIVE!'' The Dalek said.

Superman got up, absorbing the sunlight once more as he looked at the metallic being in front of him.

''Who are you? What you are doing here?'' Superman asked.

''I AM A SUPERHERO!'' the Dalek told him, head lights flashing. That was something that gave Superman pause.

''Seriously?'' he raised an eyebrow. ''What is this?''

''I AM A SUPERHERO!'' the Dalek said.

''Then what about the fight with Lobo?''

''SELF-DEFENSE!''

''And the fight with Guy Gardner?''

''TRADITIONAL SUPERHERO MISUNDERSTANDING. IT IS QUITE COMMON!''

''And blowing up Pluto?''

''IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! I WILL MAKE RESTITUTION IF YOU WISH!'' The Dalek said.

All around them rushed a variety of people, police moving to secure Metallo's body and to evacuate civilians to safety. Not to mention the reporters. The Daleks was suddenly surrounded by flashing lights and cameras.

''Superman! Superman! What do you have to say about today?''

''Superman is this some sort of new robot sidekick?''

''Superman what do you have to say about Toyman's attack earlier today?''

This was….not entirely expected for the Dalek. These humans were swarming like void sharks.

They were everywhere. Abruptly the Dalek lifted off and flew away. It need to approach this in a more private setting.

* * *

''He seemed rather dangerous to me.'' Jimmy said to Lois as they stood in the elevator going down to the parking lot basement in the Daily Planet. It was near dark and her day at work was almost over. Lois wasn't really happy that she missed much of the big action today.

''He saved a bus full of children and helped defeat Metallo. Everyone wants to know about this new salt-shaker…thing or whatever it is.''

''Yeah, I missed that too.'' Jimmy said slowly. Then the door chimed open and revealed the Dalek.

''YOU REQUESTED AN INTERVIEW?'' it asked. Lois startled back for a moment while Jimmy straighten up in shock.

''Um….yes. This is rather unusual.''

''I AM UNFAMILAR WITH HUMAN SOCIAL CUSTOMS. YOU WISHED TO CONDUCT AN INTERVIEW WITH ME FOR YOUR MEDIA UNIT. I AM HERE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS FOR THE PUBLIC.'' The Dalek said.

''Oh, well then.'' Lois grabbed her notepad and mentioned for Jimmy to unload his recorder.

''Lois Lane, Daily Planet. Who are what are you?'' she asked the Dalek hurriedly. It was not exactly how she would have preferred to conduct things but she was short on time.

''I AM A SUPERHERO!''

''Well….yes I can see that, but what are you called?''

The Dalek paused. It had hardly considered an alias before. Superheroes had names didn't they? Well he had an idea.

''I AM…..METALTRON.'' he said finally.

''Metaltron, are you a robot or an alien or a-''

''I AM WHAT YOU WOULD CALL AN ALIEN. I AM THE LAST OF MY KIND. I HAVE COME HERE TO EARTH TOO SEEK REFUGE.'' The Dalek said.

''Just like Superman. Are you Superman's sidekick?''

''NEGATIVE. I AM NOT A SIDEKICK.'' The Dalek said with indignation.

''Why did you visit Metropolis?''

'' I WAS SIGHT-SEEING. IT IS A BEAUTIFUL CITY.''

''Are you the same being that visit Cardiff? How do you answer to charges of property damage there?''

''I WAS ATTACKED BY A BRUTISH CRIMINAL NAMED LOBO WHO DESIRED TO KILL ME. IT WAS SELF-DEFENSE. I WOULD BE HAPPY TO MAKE AMENDS FOR ANY DAMAGES OCCURRED.'' The Dalek said.

''What do you plan to do now?''

''I WILL FIGHT CRIME!''


	11. Secret Identity

**Author's Note:** Here's another snippit, introducing a new character. I'm hoping I got Lex's characterization right.

* * *

Lex Luthor normally hated these kinds of gala parties. Mostly because in all truth he was smarter than everyone in the room put together most of the time, so no one could really hold any kind of intelligent conversation with him.

He sipped lightly at his Martini as he only half-listened to some higher up in his computers division drone on about yearly profits when his attention was suddenly interrupted by an insistent voice that spoke his name.

''Mr. Luthor?'' Trisha Madison, head of LexCorp's PR department smiled at him.

''Yes?''

''I would you to meet our new investor. Mr. David Ross'' Madison mentioned a rather plain, unassuming man in a neatly pressed suit. Luthor looked him over, his sharp eyes taking in the flat, smiling features and the plain brown eyes. Just another rich corporate idiot trying to make a name for himself. Lex had bigger fish to fry, but he had to go through the motions here.

''Ah yes, the rising young star of the corporate world. How do you do Mr. Ross?'' Lex plastered on a fake smile, one that he had practiced to perfect.

''Please, call me Dave, everyone does.'' Ross smiled back.

''So you are a newcomer to Metropolis?' Lex asked as he walked leisurely over to a nearby balcony to look over the pleasant view from the skyscraper.

''Of course Mr. Luthor, my first time here.'' Ross told him. Then he spotted an emerald streak in the distance.

''Oh, look, Green Lantern.'' Ross pointed at it.

''Yes, I see that.'' Luthor looked up in almost a sense of boredom.

''I've never met a Superhero before. Like Superman. All of them with secret identities and so forth. Like a game.'' Ross mimed a mask over his face.

''It's a bit more than a game.'' Lex said, suddenly staring into his glass.

'' I always wondered who Superman was. Maybe he lives in Metropolis?'' Ross asked.

Luthor snorted.

''Mr. Ross do you seriously think anyone with that kind of power would hide among the common masses below? That such a shining angel would dare dirty his feet among the common rabble?''

''So no secret identity?'' Ross sounded almost disappointed.

''No Mr. Ross, I assure you, no secret identity.'' Luthor sneered.

* * *

The Dalek flew through Metropolis, its eyestalk scanning the milling crowds below as it moved invisibly above the Metropolis air. Its larger city-wide scans confirmed the presence of Black Lantern energy, although in only trace amounts. Right here he spotted it, a LexCorp research facility. He hovered over the faculty, invisible to its sensors on all wavelengths as he paused to hack the LexCorp databases. It was harder than he expected, but the Dalek still managed to do so successfully after an entire six minutes. Whoever designed those protocols was obviously skilled.

The Dalek pushed through various files until he downloaded the relevant ones about the Black Lantern energy. It seemed that Luthor had been selected as the Orange Lantern Deputy during Blackest Night and had sought to regain the power of that ring once more, using research into the black rings.

His research was still lightyears behind Oan technology and development, and frankly the Dalek doubted the continued viability of black energy. It didn't seem very stable or safe, even by Dalek standards. Right now it would hold on to his red ring.

His thoughts turned to human society as it flew upwards above Metropolis to gaze down upon the city. Its infiltrator had already begun his work into subverting the establishments as a backup plan in his case current one failed. Humans were more likely to respond to one of their own. It had been easy enough to start up a new identity for his pawn, he merely had to hack into the databases, create a false history and its newly acquired wealth did the trick. Acquiring gold and precious metals was almost pathetically easy given the abilities of a power ring. That had allowed its pawn to set up a suitable position in human society.

**''Warning. Willpower approaching.''** The Dalek turned to see the green form of Kyle Rayner move through the sky. The Dalek de-cloaked and rose up to meet him. A power ring scan would detect his cloak anyway.

''GREETINGS FELLOW CRIME-FIGHTER.''

''Well if it isn't our newest Red Lantern. You've caused quite a stir over at the Watchtower and at Oa pal.'' Kyle floated in front of him and crossed him arms. ''You should be completely out of control and overwhelmed by the rage produced by that ring. How is it you can speak and form constructs?'' Rayner stared into the crimson eyestalk.

''MY RACE IB BUILT FOR EMOTIONAL EXTREMES.'' The Dalek stated, which was technically true from a certain point of view.

''And you really are the last of your race? I saw the interview on the news.''

''I AM THE LAST SURVIVOR OF MY RACE TRYING TO USE THE RED POWER RING IN THE SERVICE OF JUSTICE AND GOOD.'' The Dalek said.

''Then why did you blow up Pluto?''

''IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.'' The Dalek's headlights flashed.

''One hell of an accident. You know attacking a Green Lantern is a crime according to Oan law, I could try and bring you in.''

''WOULD YOU START A FIGHT AGAINST EARTH'S NEWEST HERO THEN? ONE THAT HAS SAVED LIVES IN PUBLIC VIEW?'' The Dalek looked at him.

Kyle was suddenly silent. He could see the Dalek had a point.

''If you try anything big that threatens the Earth…'' he started.

''I AM A SUPERHERO.''

''Yeah, yeah, you said that already in the interview.'' Kyle muttered. The Dalek's mind raced with prospective thoughts on what to do to amend the situation. What was that human technique.

''I FEEL WE GOT OFF ON A BAD START. I CAN PURCHASE AN ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE IF THAT PLEASES YOU.'' The Red Lantern told him.

''You're trying to buy me a beer?'' Kyle asked dubiously. This was new.

''THAT IS CORRECT.''

''No. I don't drink and fly at the same time.'' The Green Lantern just stared at him in disbelief.

''WHAT ABOUT SACCHARINE FOODS? HUMANS ENJOY SACCHARINE FOODS DO THEY NOT?''

''No, look. Whatever you're trying to do it isn't working. You can't just buy me a beer in public. It's now how heroes do things.'' Kyle explained.

''WNY NOT?'' The Dalek's eyestalk lowered for a moment, it almost reminded Kyle of a kicked puppy.''

''It's not inappropriate. Well, there are exceptions like Guy, but he doesn't bother to wear a mask anyway.'' The Green Lantern told him. Then he paused. Why was he giving this thing social advice again?

''THEN I REQUEST INFORMATION. WHY DO YOU WEAR THAT MASK?'' the Dalek asked. Obviously it's attempts at making nice had failed.

''….To protect my secret identity?'' Kyle said slowly. ''Look dude that's kind of a trade secret.''

''IT IS INSUFFICENT FOR DISGUISE PURPOSES. IT DOES NOT COVER A SUFFICENT AREA TO PROTECT YOUR FACIAL STRUCTURE.''

''Hey! I designed that!''

''THEN IT IS A POOR DESIGN.''

''Is floating pepperpot really criticizing my costume?'' The Green Lantern looked at him. He was actually rather proud of his artistic talents in making that mask. He had stuck with that mask even after the Corps had been reformed.

''MY TRAVEL UNIT IS QUITE COMFORTABLE AND EFFICENT.''

''You have a toilet plunger.''

''IT IS QUITE HANDY.''

''I'm sure it is. However when you were commenting on my identity-'' Kyle began, but was then interrupted by a signal from his ring.

**''Distress signal from damaged freighter of the Xanlos Trade Group. Requesting rescue in Sector 2814.''** The ring reported.

''Never mind. Duty calls. But don't think this is over.'' Kyle warned the Red Lantern as he flew off.

The Dalek watched him fly off for the moment into the distance before turning his thoughts inward. Secret identities were something that puzzled the Dalek, they were common among Superheroes, yet many of them were quite illogical.

Take Superman for instance. He wore no mask and operated in public for quite some time, yet none knew who he was. Granted, many of the pictures of him had been subtly distorted by some sort of vibration given off by Superman, but the Dalek had been able to record a visual image with its eyestalk and ring. The Dalek then ran the image across the United States Census records to find a match in one Clark Kent, a reporter at the Daily Planet who also lived in Superman's city. The entire process had taken a total time of 3.17 rels.

Apart from that the Dalek had confirmed Kent's identity by genetic scans when it was at the Daily Planet for its interview. Kent was not human and matched the genetic scans that the Dalek had taken from Superman.

Logically the humans should have discovered Superman's identity by now, yet confirmation has not happened and it remains secret. What was Superman's secret? Different mannerisms and a way of acting? Was he essentially hiding in plain sight like the Dalek? Humanity was still one large irrational puzzle to the Dalek. Maybe the common citizen could not figure out Superman's identity but what about Lex Luthor? Superman's alleged super genius arch-enemy could not figure that out?

* * *

Later after the gala party, Dave Ross flashed a smile at the hotel lobbyist as he walked through the lounge and into the elevator. He pressed a button and about a minute later he stepped out into the corridor and walked to his apartment number.

He fished out his keycard and unlocked the door to his apartment. The door swung open silently and he stepped into the bare unremarkable room before closing the door behind him. He then walked silently into the center of the room.

''REPORT!'' flashed a pair of lights in the darkness.

''Everything is proceeding as planned master. I am integrating myself into human society.'' Dave Ross said. Constructed out of Dalek and Manhunter technology, he was the perfect infiltrator. He already had his fingers in some very important economic links.

''EXCELLENT! AND LUTHOR'S ANSWER?''

''He knows nothing of Superman's secret identity master.'' Ross told him.

The Dalek was silent at this revelation as Ross transmitted his recording from his optical banks. Luthor's body language suggested he was telling the truth, however Luthor was a notorious liar and there every every bit the possibility he was attempting to deceive Ross. It was a token attempt anyway.

''PREPARE FOR YOUR GOTHAM OPERATIONS. YOU MUST INTEGRATE YOURSELF INTO THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY THERE AS WELL.''

''Yes master.''


	12. Blue Beetle

**Author's Note:** This is another snippit, this time featuring the Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes. This reflects on the Pre-Reboot version fo the Blue Beetle.

* * *

The Dalek flew through the streets of Coast City while cloaked as its eyestalk scanned back and forth. It had already versed itself in the history of this city quite well. This was the city that Hal Jordan, the first Green Lantern had protected in his career. This was the city destroyed by Mongul and what drove Jordan to destroy the Corps under then influence of Parallax.

Now it had been rebuilt and was the place where the Blackest Night event had occurred. Here Nekron had brought the power of death itself to consume the living. Here was the great trace of residual Black Lantern energy.

The Dalek paused to analyze the energy levels he was reading. It was black lantern energy in a much clearer form that what he found at Luthor's lab. It was something that the Dalek would have to find a way to contain to it could be properly investigated. But he would have to do it with care. Black Lantern energy was a dangerous thing.

The Dalek paused before the site where the Black Lantern Central Power Battery had been located during Blackest Night and looked it over. There was nothing left of the Central Power Battery now, but his sensors registered greater concentration of Black Lantern Energy. It was the utter absence of emotion and life. Previously to his recruitment into the Red Lantern Corps the Dalek would have scoffed at such notions of the embodiments of emotions existing in reality. Yet he had learned much since then.

The Dalek turned away and flew through the streets once more, scanning for any more possible traces of the Black Lantern energy until the Dalek was finally satisfied with its initial sweep before rising high above the city.

Now he would investigate that Reach agent.

''RING. LOCATE SCARAB WARRIOR!''

**''Affirmative. Scanning.''**

* * *

''So Twilight and New Moon eh?'' smirked the assistant manager at the register of the rental video store.

''No it's not me, it's for me friends. I swear.'' Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle told him. He stood in his local blockbusters, wallet in hand paying for video rental. Brenda had been insistent and had wanted him and Paco to watch it with her in preparation for Breaking Dawn.

Jaime was already dreading it.

''That will be $11.99.'' the cashier said.

_Freaking overpriced_, Jaime thought. But he paid up anyway and collected the movies.

Outside of the video store it was already dusk with long lines of sunlight stretching over the distance. Jaime sighed as he clutched the bag containing the videos and began to walk down over to Paco's house. It would take about a half hour to walk but less than five seconds with the Scarab, however Jaime didn't want to use his powers for something as trivial as that.

**''Warning. Red Lantern approaching!''** the Scarab spoke suddenly.

On the sidewalk some sort of round oversized salt shaker moved across the ground. It had some sort of elongated stalk on its front with a pair of ear-like bulbs. Its upper body was covered in some sort of metallic slats and its lower body was dotted by odd bumps.

''HALT!'' the thing screeched at him in a loud grating voice.

**''Danger! Highest Danger Level! Recommend immediate Planetkiller weaponry!''** the Scarab spoke urgently.

''Wait, just hold on for a sec.'' Jaime told the Scarab hurriedly before switching his attention to the Dalek. ''Look I don't want any-''

''SCANS DETECT REACH SCARAB IN HUMAN HOST. THE REACH ARE HOSTILE TO PLANET EARTH! THE REACH AGENT WILL EXPLAIN INTENTIONS!'' the thing's red eyestalk was now pointed directly at Jaime.

''No dude, you got this all wrong. I'm not controlled by them, my suit got damaged and it's got its own personality now. I'm not with the Reach.'' Jaime hurriedly told it. The thing paused in its advance.

''EXPLAIN HOW THE SCARAB IS DAMAGED!'' The thing told him.

''The previous owner tried to use magic on it. It didn't work and when it bonded with me I was in control.'' Jaime told him.

''MAGIC DOES NOT EXIST.''

_Oh Traci would love you._ Jaime thought sarcastically.

''Hate to break it to you amigo but magic does exist. My girlfriend is a mage.'' Jaime told him.

The Dalek paused, scanning the form of the Reach warrior, noting the heart rate and current physiological state for any hint of dishonestly. So far he appeared to be telling the truth but a Reach scarab could regulate heart rates.

''Look, the League already knows. The Green Lanterns already know. You know Guy Gardner right? He's a friend.''

The Dalek remembered Guy Gardner well. However if this human male spoke truthfully then it would be pointless for the Dalek to attack. That would attract far too much attention. Besides, it would hardly get a chance to study a damaged Reach scarab this close.

''I WILL ACCOMPANY YOU TO ASCERTAIN TRUTH ON THE SCARAB!''

''Um, look, the friends are kinda gonna freak.''

''THAT IS NOT MY PROBLEM.''

* * *

''Hey, I know that guy! That's Metaltron.'' Brenda looked over the strange pepperpot-shaped thing that sat on the lawn outside of Brenda's house.

''You know this guy?'' Jaime said.

''Yeah he was all over the news. He helped save Superman. Isn't that right?'' Brenda asked the Dalek. There was a mechanical whir and the Dalek turned to look at her.

''I AM A SUPERHERO!'' the Dalek told her.

''Does he even have an indoor voice?'' Paco asked, coming out of the house.

''I don't know. I just met him.'' Jaime confessed. He was both confused and nervous at the presence of this thing so close to his friends and family. According to the Scarab's information this thing was a Red Lantern that utilized rage and hatred as its power source, yet the thing seemed oddly peaceful so far.

'Hey, I got the pop.'' Traci Thirteen suddenly appeared in a burst of magic, her arms full of Cherry Coke cans for date night. Jaime pecked his girlfriend on the lips and took the cans from her. Then she noticed the Dalek.

''Oh, who is that guy?''

''Yeah. It's some sort of new space hero. I think he's British or something. He doesn't believe in magic.'' Jaime told her. Meanwhile the Dalek turned around in alarm, plunger raised.

''ANOMALOUS ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED! EXPLAIN HUMAN FEMALE!'' it told her.

''Doesn't believe in magic? Just like dad.'' Traci blinked and looked back over as the Dalek. She had never seen anything like it.

''Hey, it's all right. I'm one of the good guys.'' Traci told The Red Lantern.

The Dalek was confused and intrigued. Like all Daleks it had been at least been educated in the basic history of the universe and that of their hated enemy, the Time Lords. The Dalek knew how the Time Lords had banished magic from the universe, but it had not expected to encounter it here. It was something new and unsettling for the Dalek.

It scanned the human female again. Genetic scans revealed traces of unusual energy and the slight genetic drift in her DNA, indicative of some sort of human variant species. If she held actual magic then what did that mean for this world?

The Dalek's musings were interrupted by its sensors detecting a high-level of radiation closing in El Paso. It was a metahuman of some sort. The Dalek turned to look at Jaime, who's Scarab had evidently reached the same conclusion.

''ELEVATE!'' the Dalek rose rapidly into the air.

''I'll follow him.'' Quickly the Scarab flowed over Jaime's skin and covered him in the living battlesuit.

* * *

''Come out and face me Blue Beetle!'' yelled the man as he stood in the middle of an El Paso street.. He looked like some sort of armored skeleton with a flaming purple skull for a head. Flames licked off his armor as his fists shown with nuclear energy. Above Jaime and the Dalek flew down to meet him.

''So, mind telling me who you are and what you want to do here?'' Jaime asked the man.

''VISUAL INDENTIFICATION CONFIRMS METAHUMAN AS THE ATOMIC SKULL. '' The Dalek stated.

''Yes! It is I, the living embodiment of nuclear power-'' The Atomic Skull began.

''Hey, you're one of those C-List Superman villains right? Lemme guess, you came here to make a bigger name for yourself? Trying to take out a newbie hero?'' Jaime asked him.

''Shut up!'' The Skull screamed at him, firing off a blast of energy. Jaime formed up an arm shield to block the blast.

''Wow, did I hit a nerve or what?'' Jaime began forming up another weapon in his other arm.

''I'll obliterate you! I'll scatter your ashes! I'll-'' The Skull was suddenly cut off by a red construct surrounding him. Jaime's enhanced visions could see the countless detailed machinery pieces and odd circuitry of the construct. Each and every detail had been carefully crafted.

There was a flash and suddenly The Skull fell limp, energy disappearing from his form as the Dalek's construct dissipated and the Dalek quickly formed a bubble construct to contain the body of Neutron.

''Well that was about the quickest fight I've ever been in. What did you do?'' the young hero looked at the Dalek for a moment before the Dalek shoved the unconscious form of the Skull at him.

''DALEKS ARE EXPERTS ON RADIATION AND IT'S EFFECTS. I WAS ABLE TO SHUT DOWN HIS POWERS.'' The Dalek explained.

''And that thing, you can make constructs like Green Lantern.'' The Blue Beetle remarked.

However the Dalek did not bother to answer him. It hovered in the air for a moment before turning and flying away.

''Thanks…I guess.'' Jaime watched the Dalek fly away.

* * *

_Magic._ Magic existed. He had seen it's mention in human media, but he had chalked that up to human superstition and ignorance. But these energy readings didn't make much sense to the Dalek. He had looked it over with ring and casing armor and these did not conform to the Dalek's knowledge of energy.

The Daleks had little experience with such things. Actually in fact the Dalek was fairly sure it was the first of its kind to encounter the phenomenon. For a being from a rational universe, confronting an irrational force like magic was a rather unsettling experience, and should be investigated in the future as a possible danger.

But it had already wasted it's time here. The Reach agent had been investigated and further field tests could be done in the future. While the Dalek would have liked to study how exactly the Reach armor was damaged it had other business to complete and its primary objective was competed.

Now it had business to handle on Gotham. As one of the major cities on this continent is also was home to one of the principal superheroes of the Justice League as the Dalek had learned from its files. This bore investigating, alone with its pawn's current corporate ventures.

As night fell over the eastern seaboard of the United States the Dalek flew low over the treeline to settle down barely a mile outside Gotham City limits. Rapidly it paused to change its appearance with the power ring.

''ENGAGING STEALTH MODE!''

In a flash of light it altered its casing color to be pitch black. Save for a single crimson eyestalk the Dalek was pitch black all over. Somewhat redundant with the Dalek's ability to turn invisible, but the Dalek thought it suitable for the environment of Gotham. With that accomplished the Dalek proceeded to move off into the forbidding distance of Gotham city.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Next we go to Gotham.


	13. Gotham: Part One

**Author's Note:** Here is the next chapter. Again, Pre-Reboot, so Babs is still Oracle.

* * *

The Dalek hovered an inch above the sewer water as it floated through the Gotham underground drainage system. Gotham required a subtler hand than other cities and it might risk detection by some random superhuman if it tried to fly invisible.

Of course the real reason was the signal it received.

A Manhunter signal.

The Dalek took stock for a moment as its sensors analyzed in the signature of Manhunter technology in Gotham. That was not expected. The Dalek tried to narrow in one the signal, but there was some sort of interference going on. That was troublesome. The signal had been broadcasting from somewhere underground though. And if there were any Manhunter on Earth the Dalek felt obligated to finish the job it had started earlier and Exterminate the robots. The Dalek paused as its sensors detected another large lifeform suddenly moving through the sewer channels. The Dalek turned around to see a large dark shape glide below before it leapt at him suddenly in a shower of sewer water.

Waylon Jones had staked out this area of the Gotham sewer recently after escaping from Arkham. It was really just pure luck that he happened to spot some sort of flying trashcan in his own personal territory. He then took steps to remedy that. Six hundred pounds of scales and flesh rose out of the water.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek cried as it promptly blew Killer Croc to bits. Flaming bits of flesh decorated the entire sewer walls and the Dalek's casing. In some annoyance the Dalek proceeded to clean itself off with its power ring and turn around. That was very satisfying. It finally was able to exterminate after being forced to play the role of Superhero for so long. Now the Dalek had more pressing matters. It would investigate the Manhunters and exterminate each and every one of them.

* * *

''Clarice Tanning. Do not worry. Soon you shall be free.'' Said Victor Zsasz as he stroked her cheek. 'Free of the flesh prison that binds you.'' The scarred man had the woman found and gagged as police lights flashed through the blinded windows.

Clarice was just a sales clerk when Zsasz broke into one of WayneCorp's office buildings and held her and her entire sales team hostage for some insane reason. Six of her coworkers were already dead on the floor, their throats slit.

''Mmmmf!''she cried out, desperate for any sort of mercy.

''Hush little one. I'll free you soon.'' Zsasz trailed the knife across her cheek lightly, drawing blood. He then got up and looked out the window to see police far below. Barricades were already set up and Zsasz could already see police officers swarming like ants below.

''Come on, where's the big bad bat?'' he muttered, grabbing a nearby bullhorn he had stolen earlier. He inched up the window and spoke.

''Attention! I have a hostage. If I see the Bat I'll kill her! I swear I will!'' he shouted into the bullhorn. Pleased, Zsasz turned around only to see a strange sight. Some sort of dull black trash can had literally phased up from the floor and was currently looking around.

At first Zsasz was paralyzed with shock at the strange sight. Then he quickly grabbed his knife.

''What are you? What is this?'' Zsasz quickly grabbed his knife and started towards Clarice.

''I'd told you I'd kill her!''

The Dalek's eyestalk turned around to look at Zsasz. A human criminal obviously in a hostage situation. Really, the Dalek had simply moved up from below to get and get a better fix on its readings. It really didn't need this kind of distraction. This human could prove to be quite annoying.

The Dalek quickly tracked Zsasz as he moved towards Clarice. The gunstick shifted ever so slightly and fired, blowing off Zsasz's hand. The serial killer screamed and collapsed to the floor, clutching his severed limb. Batman had beaten him before, but he had never had a limb blown off before. His entire world was awash with utter pain.

The Dalek paused to look at the screaming madman on the floor. Visual scans identified this human as Victor Zsasz a notorious serial killer and a danger to society. Briefly the Dalek paused to scan the building for any surveillance devices before it moved up and grabbed Zsasz's face with its plunger, muffling his screams of pain. Abruptly the Dalek began to squeeze Zsasz's skull, crushing it slowly until he stopped struggling.

Zsasz's body slumped to the ground, skull withered and crushed. The Dalek paused to analyze the human's brainwaves for a moment. They were warped somehow, different from standard human norm that the Dalek had on record. These brainwaves were incomprehensible to the Dalek and thus useless for its purposes.

The Dalek turned to observe the sobbing captive. Sensors indicated she had soiled herself in fear. Further scans revealed an elevated heart rate. For a moment the Dalek moved his gunstick to train on her, ready to Exterminate. Then he paused for a moment. However his casing scans revealed a human life sign in the building. It decided to not waste anymore time.

Silently the Dalek left. It had to acquire information from a more reliable source. If the Manhunters where in Gotham it's possible they already had infiltrated the local power structure.

* * *

Nightwing moved silently and fluidly through the door with the grace that only an acrobat could muster. Every inch was checked and every fiber of his being on was alert for traps or surprises like the veteran crimefighter he was. He was a tall dark-haired man wearing a black bodysuit with a blue bird emblem on the front that stretched over his shoulders and arms into azure fingerstripes.

Dick moved cautiously into the room that Zsasz was in, nightsticks at hand and ready, only to find a single sobbing figure struggling in her bonds and a single figure crumpled on the floor. Dick looked around cautiously again for any signs this was a trap before putting away his nightsticks.

''Please God, somebody help me!'' Clarice sobbed.

''It's alright. You're fine now.'' Nightwing assured him, quickly untying her. Clarice fell to the floor, ripping off her blindfold in panic.

''Just wait for the police and the paramedics.'' Nightwing told her. He then looked behind him at Zsasz's body and knelt down, studying the crushed skull for a moment before getting up. He looked back over at Clarice.

''Who did this? Did you hear anything?'' Nightwing asked her. She couldn't have seen anything as she was blindfolded.

''I-I don't know. I was so scared. That man said something something-I can't recall…I-I don't know.'' The woman blubbered. Nightwing sighed. She was obviously not going to be of much use. Quickly and silently he left the building.

Once he was a safe distance away Dick touched his earpiece.

''Nightwing to Oracle. I've got some good news and some bad news.''

''_Well?''_ Babs waited on the other end of the line.

''The good news is that the hostage is safe and alive. The paramedics will be getting to her.''

''_And Zsasz?''_

'' Zsasz is dead. A crushed skull and a severed arm. I just found the body.''

Dick heard a suck of air in apprehension on the other end of the communications link.

''_Did the witness see anything?''_

''The hostage was blindfolded and overwhelmed with fear and shock. She's not going to be helpful.'' Nightwing told her.

''_He's not going to be happy about another vigilante running about killing people.''_ Oracle told him. They both know who she was referring to.

''Yeah I know. But the police sealed off the building and they saw nobody leave. '' Dick told her.

''_So we're not dealing with your average vigilante.''_

''Yeah, that's what worries me the most.''

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yes Zsasz and Killer Croc are dead.


	14. Gotham: Part Two

**Author's Note:** Here is the next chapter of the Dalek's Gotham adventure.

* * *

In his own opinion, Oswald Cobblepot thought he was an enterprising man. Despite his lackluster physical appearance and rather unusual childhood he had risen to become a rather important information broker in Gotham City. So important that even the Bat tolerated him as long as he didn't go too far. Living in Gotham had conditioned Oswald to seeing many strange things. Men dressed as giant bats, homicidal painted clowns, living clay mutants and mutant bat ninjas. However little of that had prepared him for this.

Right as he walked into his personal office both of his bodyguards were suddenly downed by beams of red light that flashed out of nowhere. The two bodyguards slumped to the ground unconscious as Oswald suddenly turned and tried to run. A red tentacle construct grabbed the Penguin by the leg and dragged him back into the office.

Abruptly the Penguin was thrown to a chair and immediately bound by crimson bonds. The cloaked Dalek rematerialized behind Cobblepot and turned to face the back of the Penguin's head.

**''I require information.''** The Dalek promptly transmitted through the ring.

The Dalek had been searching for possible information on the Manhunter signal and any who might be in league with them. To this end according to the information it had downloaded from the human information network, this human male controlled much of the information in this city, so therefore he could be bargained with. To this end the Dalek had tracked him down to his nightclub and had infiltrated the place while cloaked ,using its power ring to disable security systems were needed. It had then waited for the human called Cobblepot to come in.

''What kind of information?'' the Penguin asked. Although he was fearful for his life, information was something he could deal with.

**''I need complete information on all your weapons and technology shipments in this city!''** the Dalek demanded.

''What? All of it?'' like all good information brokers the Penguin kept some information stored away from his computers in case of any hacker or technopath.

**''That is correct.''**

''B-but that will ruin me! I can't give everything away!'' The Penguin blubbered. The Dalek noted his elevated heartrate.

The Dalek hit him across the fact with a plunger construct.

**''I can be quite imaginative. I have soundproofed the one will hear your screams.''**

* * *

Eventually the Penguin spilled his guts and directed the Dalek to its non-computer files and any other piece of information that he could give after much…persuasion. The Dalek gathered its files and promptly left. It had seriously considered killing the Penguin, however the death of the information broker might attract unwarranted attraction, especially more attention from the Batman as to what happened to the Penguin.

Right now however it was sitting in the middle of an abandoned warehouse compiling and observing all of the Penguin's notes. Slowly the Dalek was seeing a pattern of usual technologies being bought and delivered by a certain crimeboss.

Black Mask. Roman Sionis. What was he doing with the Manhunters?

It decided to get more answers.

Seven miles away, in one of her safe houses, Barbara Gordon peered over a multitude of screens, each giving a treasure drove of gathered information all over the planet. Here she helped oversee a global anti-crime unit.

Understandably she was rather upset when she found out she was being hacked.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she realized someone found her signal and was breaching her files. For once, panic erupted in her heart. Was she compromised? Had someone found out about her activities? She attempted to isolate and eject the intruder from the system, but she was having a hard time doing that. Whoever was doing this was very good indeed to get past her carefully constructed firewalls and digital pitfalls.

Then almost as quickly as it came, the intruder left. Quickly checking her systems she found that only the files on Roman Sionis had been accessed and copied. Odd. The intruder had hardly been interested in the rest of the files.

_What was going on?_

* * *

''Ah Bruce, I would like you to meet someone. Here, this is Dave Ross, an investor from Metropolis.'' Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman plastered on a fake smile. He despised playing the part of an idiot playboy, but it was necessary for the task at hand.

Right now he was in the middle of a charity function. He would rather be out operating as Batman, but Dick, Steph and Tim already were handling most of Gotham for tonight and Damian was being forcibly sent to interact with other children his age.

Bruce looked over Ross. A fairly unremarkable man in a pressed suit, he was an investor in LexCorp and had already been making overtures to Wayne Enterprises. Bruce didn't normally handle the business side of things, that was Lucius's job.

''Welcome to Gotham Mr. Ross,'' Bruce held out a hand.

''Good to be here. I've heard many things about this town,'' Ross said, with a rather mysterious smile on his face.

''Oh, we have some trouble here and there,'' Bruce pretended to dismiss it.

Then there was the sound of gunfire and screams as Bruce obligingly hit the ground as several figures came in. They were tattooed thugs wearing crude overalls and clown masks, each one wielding an assault rifle. Quickly they moved about the crowd, hemming them in expertly with rifle butts and fists. Bruce recognized them. This was an expertly planned attack. Bruce had a sneaking feeling who planned this.

''Ladies and Gentletwits your host for the evening is here!'' the Joker gave a shit-eating grin as he stepped into the room, several more of his thugs behind him.

* * *

The Black Mask poured over his notes, compiling various ledgers and records books of this month's profit from his various illegal operations. Here were profits from his cocaine dealers, here an arms shipment and more.

A figure stepped out of the shadows.

''Who the hell is-Oh, it's you.'' Black Mask relaxed.

''_We believe our presence here is compromised.''_ The Manhunter unit told him.

''Really? But I thought the Bat-''

''_Not the Bat, an old enemy from the stars who is responsible for our current predicament. He was able to track some of our technology as we have deduced.''_ The Manhunter unit told him.

How pathetic that this is what the Manhunter race was reduced to. Hiding out on Earth and licking their wounds from the massive defeats inflicted upon them by the Dalek. Here they hid out, attempting to acquire whatever technology they could get their hands on.

''Then what to you want then?''

''_Acquire the rest of the Amazo unit. We will need its technology. We have provided you with advanced weaponry but we expect you to honor your part of the bargain.''_

''I'm working on it as best I can. Give me a fucking break. The security surrounding it is tight. It's taken months for me to infiltrate my best people.''

''_We understand, but failure is not an option.''_

''Don't worry. The arm will arrive tonight.''

* * *

The yard was a flurry of activity as Black Mask's thugs hurriedly unloaded a set of crates from the truck. This was a vitally important task and Black Mask did not tolerate failure at all. Fear was a powerful motivator.

Already the head workman gestured for yet another massive crate to be brought out of the truck. Hidden in an entire convoy of trucks, among several dozen different crates, were the body parts of an Amazo unit, acquired at great cost and effort by Black Mask's crime syndicate. Inside laid the unlocked secrets of the Justice League and all of their combined powers.

Last time Black Mask had attempted to acquire an Amazo unit, Nightwing and Batman had foiled him. Now Black Mask has learned his lesson. The Amazo unit was being shipped in four different trucks. Three of them had already arrived. This was the last.

Right now the Dalek hovered silently in the night sky, scanning the area before him. He detected twenty-nine human lifesigns below, along with what seemed to be some sort of packing crates sealed with some sort of material that prevented scanning. LuthorTech most likely, developed for use against the likes of the Justice League and the Green Lantern. However judging from the importance of those crates they were of special importance to Black Mask's crime syndicate.

Below, Tim Drake was coming much to the same conclusion. Red Robin sat in shadows, looking out through night vision goggles. He had been tracking Black Mask's operations for the past few days now and was prepared to make a move. Tim's eyes flickered over some of the weapons Black Mask's thugs were carrying. Some sort of directed energy weapons by the looks of it. Not your usual black market sidearms that most Gotham criminals carried.

Suddenly Tim spotted one thug simply fall to the ground as the rest turned around in panic, pointing up at the sky. Tim spotted strange beams come out of nowhere to carefully target each thug one by one, stunning them.

Black Mask's men opened fire with their guns, randomly filling the air with flashing green blasts that only served to impact harmlessly on the Dalek's casing as the Red Lantern's personal shields absorbed the blasts easily. Meanwhile it continued to gun down thug after thug. As it finished it promptly set down and began looking closer at the crates. It blasted one open before finding it was filled with just school textbooks. It then proceeded to move on to another one, blasting it open too.

Tim Drake dropped down as silently as he could. He then proceeded to check the bodies of one of the thugs, noting that he was still alive. Abruptly the superhero straightened up and grabbed a rock, carefully choosing his arm he hurled the rock at where he guessed the thing was. The rock struck the Dalek's casing. After a moment he Dalek decloaked and turned around, his red eyestalk seeming to glare at Tim.

''You know Batman doesn't like other vigilantes operating in his city without permission?'' Tim told him.

''I DO NOT CARE. I AM ON A PERSONAL MISSION FOR THE SAKE OF THE EARTH!'' The thing replied in a harsh voice. Tim peered to look at him closer.

''Hey, you're Metaltron right? That British superhero?''

''NO COMMENT.''

''That casing is pretty distinctive.'' Tim told him as he stepped towards a crate.

''HALT! DO NOT MOVE. THIS CRATE IS MY INVESTIGATION!'' The Dalek shrieked at him suddenly.

''Alright, hold your horses.'' Tim stopped, now suddenly cautious. The Dalek turned and created a dozen arm constructs that wretched the casings off the crates. Then he spotted some sort of arm nestled in one of the crates. The Dalek turned around and prompted leveled the gunstick at it. In a flash of light he reduced the arm to ashes.

''THE CONTRABAND HAS BEEN DESTROYED.''

''Was that an Amazo unit?'' Tim thought he had seen a glimpse of that.

''IT IS IRRELEVANT.'' The Dalek looked back at him again. ''IDENTIFY YOURSELF.''

''You're new to this whole superhero thing aren't you?'' Tim asked. The Dalek was about to reply when it's armor registered an incoming signal. Quickly the Dalek took it as an internal call in its casing.

''_Master, there has been a slight complication.''_

''WHAT SORT OF COMPLICATION?''

''_The party I have attended has been infiltrated by the Joker and his minions. Now as you know you built me with a stealth role, not a combat role, sacrificing weapon systems in favor of additional stealth generators.''_

''ELABORATE.''

''_I think they plan on killing me. That might blow my cover when they discover I am an android sir.''_

''I UNDERSTAND. I WILL RESCUE YOU.''

Time stared. for some reason the Dalek went silent for the past several seconds. Suddenly it lifted off and fled away into the night. He watched it disappear into the inky darkness before activating his earpiece.

''Red Robin to Oracle. I think something very strange just happened.''

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yes, the Dalek will meet the Batman and Joker next chapter. You can imagine how that will end.


	15. Gotham: Part Three

**Author's Note:** Here is the next snippit. Full credit to scrivener to proofreading this. This is the last chapter with the Dalek in Gotham. Reviews and comments are welcomed.

* * *

The Joker's thugs rounded up the various party guests and forced them into huddled groups. Bruce noted various goons blocking exit points and windows with guns. The Joker had evidently planned this out well. Various plans raced through his mind on how to escape or disarm the thugs. Backup should be coming, Oracle should have alerted any of his various protégés or allies right now and the Gotham police should be cordoning off the place.

''Look at you boys and girls! Gotham's high and mighty. Well Joker here decided to play a little visit. From one good neighbor to another.'' The Joker walked in front of them, hands clasped behind his back.

''Please I'll give you anything! Just let me go.'' One of the guests begged him.

''How about your life Johhny boy?'' the Joker lifted up a spray can and promptly gassed the man in the face. The man went into convulsions of laughter, his face twisting into a malevolent grin as his heart stopped beating. Somebody gave a terrified scream as they saw that.

''You don't scare us.'' Another man shouted defiantly. The Joker looked him over. He was sweating bullets despite his words.

''How about this?'' the Joker gestured to one of his men, who brought forth a box. The criminal took off the lid and lifted out a chainsaw. The Joker chuckled as he gave it a few experimental tries, revving it up to a buzz.

Suddenly the windows seemed to explode, glass flying out as a single black figure flew into the room. It hovered over the heads of the people below and focused it's eyestalk on the Joker and his gang. Immediately several of the thugs reacted, opening fire on the Dalek with their guns. The Dalek's shields easily shrugged off the rounds as he continued to look around. It promptly verified the continued safety of its infiltrator. It then focused its attention on the Joker, quickly running his facial recognition software and pulling up the Joker's profile.

This was a highly dangerous and insane supervillian. For someone with allegedly no powers the Dalek was rather impressed with the Joker's kill count. It also noted the many recorded escapes from Arkham Asylum. For a moment it wondered why the government had simply not executed the Joker. It was clearly a rogue criminal element that was highly dangerous.

''CEASE ACTIVITY AND SURRENDER TO POLICE AUTHORITY!''

''Oh look it's Oscar the Grouch come to spank us.'' The Joker made a sad face. He turned to his henchmen.

''Are the bombs in place like I told you?''

''Yeah, boss.'' The Joker turned back to the Dalek.

''I've got a nice set of bombs rigged up in Gotham Public Orphanage. Now you could attack me, or you could trot off on your merry way and wait for old Bats to show up in his merry way. What will it be chuckles?'' the Joker smiled at him.

The Dalek paused to scan the city, locating the bombs. Then it ran a high-frequency scan for the detonators linked to them. It promptly calculated the wavelength of the detonator signal that would be required. Then it sent a localized EMP pulse matched to that wavelength with his power ring.

The lights in the room flickered off and Dave Ross keeled over for a second before his internal fusion generators booted back up in 0.34 seconds. However Bruce was still transfixed at the strange vigilante floating above them.

''….what?'' the Joker blinked. The Dalek turned around and fired off a single beam from his gunstick, promptly stunning a thug.

''Kill them!'' the Joker gestured to the hostages. Immediately the thugs raised their weapons. However a red construct shield suddenly coated every single hostage, preventing any harm as the bullets were deflected harmlessly.

The Dalek's gunstick switched positions as it began to stun thug after thug after thug. The Joker's henchmen dropped like flies as the Joker himself began to make a run for the exit. The Dalek's eyestalk turned to look at him, the Dalek easily tracking his heat signatures.

Briefly the Dalek considered his options. It could stun him. However that would be a pointless short-term effort. The Joker would escape again and cause possible problems for him. However if he Exterminated the Joker that might draw unnecessary attention, especially if he was right in front of Gotham's finest. It then had an idea.

It was dark. The lights were off. Perhaps he could engineer this so that he could take out the Joker in an alternate method. The thugs were still firing at him and so far his own ring shields were protecting all of the hostages from any kind of dangerous ricochets so far…

The Dalek rapidly made a construct and light-shifted it so that it was invisible. It was a small construct, just made to change the angle ever so slightly on his armor so that when he shifted at exactly the right angle the bullet would ricochet. It took quite a bit of complex math to properly calucate the angle and timing nessecary for a bullet to accomplish that. However for the Dalek such a task was quite simple. It took a grand total of .14 rels to compute a plan.

A bullet deflected right off his armor casing to ricochet right into the back of the Joker's head, promptly blowing his brains out. The madman's body swayed in the air for a moment before his corpse hit the ground with a dull thud. To any outside observer it would appear that the Joker's henchmen had inadvertently killed their own boss.

With that accomplished, the Dalek proceeded to stun the rest of the henchmen and throw them all into a nearby pile. The Dalek then proceeded to unlock all of the exits for the nearby hostages to successfully escape.

''THE JOKER HAD BEEN DEFEATED. THE CITIZENS OF GOTHAM ARE VICTORIOUS. YOU ARE SAFE.'' The thing told him as it flew out of the building. All around them, the various wealthy socialites began to scramble to get out of the building. The Joker and his men were defeated, but nobody wanted to remain in the same room as them.

This of course, provided the perfect opportunity for Bruce to slip away to his car, which held a nearby uniform and equipment pack for emergency suiting up. He had many questions to ask of this new vigilante.

* * *

The Dalek had finally managed to triangulate the position of the Manhunters. They were located underground in a place just outside the city. Evidently the signal was coming under a place called Arkham Asylum. Rapidly the Dalek flew into the night sky over the city to travel to its needed entrance site.

Scanning the area below the Dalek noted a set of tunnels extending deep under Gotham. Rapidly it dove down and proceeded to blast and drill a massive hole in the ground where it calculated the tunnels would be most stable. Once that was accomplished the Dalek swooped down into the tunnels below. Its armor senses easily pierced the darkness as it weaved and flew eagerly forward through the tunnels to the nearest Manhunter signal.

About seven minutes later the Dalek suddenly emerged into a massive underground cave of some sorts. Before him were dozens and dozens of Black Mask's thugs, armed with the Manhunter weaponry, Black Mask himself and four Manhunters.

The Dalek paused, its ring and armor scanning the largest Manhunter. It was sleeker and taller than the others. Ring scans confirmed the presence of unknown technology in it. The Dalek calculated that this was the modified Manhunter with the Amazo technology. Judging by its scans however, this Manhunter was not yet fully upgraded. That gave the Dalek an advantage. Not that it made a difference mind you, the Daleks always had the advantage.

''_Intruder alert!''_ one of the Manhunters turned around to face him, power baton raised. _''It is the Red Destroyer.''_ Black Mask stumbled around in shock.

''Kill it now!'' the crime boss screamed. His minions leveled their weapons.

The Dalek was pleased. There was nobody of consequence around in miles and no security cameras. It could finally cut loose. It formed six Dalek constructs behind in in attack formation, along with a massive flamethrower construct.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek shrieked as it promptly began blasting away with everything it had. Red energy blasts and fiery crimson energy poured over Black Mask's men.

It was horribly one sided. The henchmen fired back ineffectually at the Dalek, their weapons fire being absorbed by his ring shields easily while the human thugs were slaughtered en masse. The Manhunters soon followed, the Dalek blasting one apart and burning another one to ashes. Black Mask himself took a construct beam to the face, blowing him apart.

''_Activate the Ragehunter unit!''_ the last of the trio responded emotionlessly as a pair of Dalek constructs began blasting it apart. In the far side of the cavern the Ragehunter unit stepped up and activated.

''_Ragehunter unit online. Preparing for combat.''_ The thing responded and immediately fired off a blast from its eyes.

**''Alert. Ring shields being compromised.''** The Dalek's ring responded. The Dalek recognized Superman's powers. It had taken pains to learn about the powers of Earth's Superheores when it first came to this planet, and the ring's database contained ample information about Kryptonians and their powers. Most likely the Manhunter hybrid had yellow sunlight stored in capacitor-cells of some sort.

Hurriedly it began to form several more construct shields around itself to fend off the heat visions blasting at it. At the same time it directed several of its Dalek constructs to begin blasting at the Ragehunter unit with everything it had.

The hybrid Manhunter flinched back. But it straightened up and promptly rushed the Dalek, fists slamming repeatedly into the Dalek's shields at superspeed. Construct after construct broke under its hits.

The Dalek began to frantically use the ring to manipulate chronoton particles. Immediately it created a time-dilation field around it, slowing the hybrid Manhunter as it closed in, visor glowing with the promise of another heat vision blast. The Dalek made a tentacle construct that coiled around the Ragehunter's throat, pushing it up in time for the heat vision to erupt ahead, cutting right through the cavern wall above them and through Arkham Asylum itself.

The Asylum was immediately bisected by a pair of heat vision beams. Humpty Dumpty, Firefly and Two-Face were immediately incinerated by the Amazo unit's blasts, along with several local guards and other lesser inmates. Then a massive crimson beam erupted from below as the Asylum appeared to rupture from the force of the Dalek's ring blast. The Dalek and the hybrid Manhunter rose upwards, still locked in mortal combat.

The Dalek had managed to slow down the hybrid Manhunter with its time dilation field sufficiently to prevent a speedblitz. However the Manhunter unit flew back and was analyzing the Dalek and its tactics. It began to whip out its own facsimile of a lantern ring and respond, attempting to reverse the fields around it, only for the Dalek to respond by pouring more power and more rage into the Ring to counter the Manhunter.

The machine hybrid attempted a combo attack next. First it manifested the Martian Manhunter's telepathic abilities in a mental assault. Then it created a mace of Nth metal from its metallic skin and began bashing the Dalek with the weapon. The Red Lantern responded by raising its own telepathic defenses while immediately forming several red construct tentacles around the Ragehunter's limbs, trying to hold it in place while the Amazo-Manhunter hybrid began to struggle.

It promptly fired a pair of heat vision blasts right into the Dalek's casing, as focused as a laser and as hot as a star. The Dalek pushed its ring to maximum as it did it's best to restrain the Amazo-Manhunter hybrid. It began sucking out the yellow sunlight with its power ring. Then after several seconds it leveled it's gunstick at point blank range.

''EXTERMINATE!'' It fired a massive ringblast of crimson fire right at the hybrid Manhunter, ripping through its torso unit.

''EXTERMINATE!'' The Dalek then using its ring to fire off an EMP pulse right into the Manhunter hybrid, who was now weakened sufficiently for that to work. The Manhunter unit's visor dimmed and it promptly fell, only to be restrained by the Dalek's constructs.

Immediately the Dalek began the process of taking it apart piece by piece as soon as it could, so that the hybrid unit could have no chance to reassemble itself. The Dalek wanted to take no chances with the Manhunter unit. Rapidly it cut apart the Manhunter unit and stored it in secure construct safes.

**''Warning. Power levels at 7%''** the crimson ring warned. The Dalek promptly stuck a tentacle down its casing. After a few moments it recharged.

**''Power levels 100%''** The Dalek, now pleased, turned to leave, however scans detected a human lifeform moving rapidly through the forest. Quickly the Dalek light-shifted its constructs to hide its new prize and it floated down to meet the human.

It was a tall powerfully built man clad in a dark suit and cape. The Dalek's visual records immediately identified this was Batman, Gotham's local vigilante and member of the Justice League. The Dalek's scans noted his elevated heart levels.

''GREETINGS FELLOW CRIME FIGHTER.'' The Dalek said.

''What the hell are you doing in my city?'' Batman demanded, appearing out of the shadows.

''DEFEATING THE MANHUNTERS AND SAVING EARTH.''

''You _blew up_ Arkham.''

''THAT WAS THE MANHUNTER. IT STOLE AMAZO TECHNOLOGY AND REPLICATED MY ABILITIES.'' The Dalek lied. Batman glowered. He had no proof and he knew it. Even Black Mask and his men were now disintegrated and buried under tons of dirt and rock now.

''Where did the Manhunters go then?''

''I DESTROYED THEM. IT IS TO MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THE TRADITIONAL SUPERHERO CODE AGAINST KILLING DOES NOT EXTEND TO THE MANHUNTERS.'' The Dalek informed him. It had enough records of the Green Lanterns destroying Manhunters to know that.

The Batman was silent. The Dalek briefly attempted to scan his cowl, however for some reason he had a device preventing scanning too closely. At best the Dalek could get his life signs and nothing more. That was curious, the Dalek thought.

''Just get out of my city. _Now_.'' He snarled.

The Dalek complied with the request. It had already accomplished its goals.


	16. Major Force

**Author's Note:** Here is another snippit. Thanks to scriviner for helping me edit and proofread. This is actually the start of another major arc.

* * *

''_Have you spotted him yet?''_ Amanda Waller asked over the cell phone.

''Yeah. Target is acquired. Moving in.'' Clifford Zmeck AKA Major Force replied. He was standing on a New York rooftop in a trenchcoat and shades to hide himself from prying eyes.

''_Good, Remember, if you are caught we will deny all involvement.''_ Waller warned him.

''Yeah, yeah I got it.'' Major Force shut off the phone and looked out in the distance using his enhanced senses. There was the crimson little shalt-shaker hovered about in the city. This was his target, the one Waller assigned to track down and capture.

He thought about how he had wound up here. After his last battle with Captain Atom, Waller had found his body and revived him, but not before implanting several killswitch devices that could take him down if he went against her.

How annoying. And now he was serving as her attack dog. Still, this job did have its bright least he was working for the government in some form again. He had already completed several covert assassination jobs that Waller made him do against rogue metahumans. Her plan this time was simple but brilliant. Use a known supervillian to do her dirty work for her, like the Suicide Squad. If he succeeded, then Waller succeeded. If he failed then Waller had plausible deniability.

_Clever of that bitch_, Major Force thought as he disintegrated his trenchcoat and glasses with a flex of dark matter energy. He then flew up twords the Dalek, fists glowing with the incredible cosmic forces that coursed in his body.

Time to kick some ass.

* * *

Dick Grayson perched confidently on a gargoyle, peering out at the crimson form of the Dalek that was floating in the New York skyline. After this Dalek's trip to Gotham, Bruce had asked him to track the strange being down and report on it.

Bruce himself was too busy in Gotham, Tim was with the Titans and Barbara could only monitor so much Plus Babs had her computers hacked by this thing, so some hands on observation was needed to gather the data Bruce wanted. The Bat has his own conclusions on the Metaltron, but he had no hard proof.

Right now the Dalek seemed to be looking around, its back turned to Nightwing. Suddenly it seemed to disappear. Nightwing straightened up carefully on his perch and back flipped with exquisite grace back up onto the roof.

''HALT! DO NOT MOVE!'' the Dalek said suddenly behind him as Nightwing turned around. Of course, he probably used his power ring to create some sort of hologram, Dick thought. However that would mean the Dalek had to be aware of his presence. Dick's apprehension of the thing grew.

''Hey. Just coming into town to check out our latest superhero.'' Dick said as he put on a disarming smile and stretched his hands behind his back while walking around the Dalek. The Red Lantern's eyestalk turned to follow him as he moved.

''I AM A SUPERHERO.'' The Dalek told him.

''Yeah, about that…did you take a recent trip to Gotham?'' Nightwing asked.

''I WAS ON VACATION.''

''Anything about a rash of supervillian deaths?''

''I KNOW NOTHING.''

''What about Arkham Asylum exploding?''

''THAT WAS THE MANHUNTER! I AM INNOCENT! INNOCENT!'' the Dalek shrieked.

''Hey, hey, relax pepperpot. We're all friends here.'' Dick put up his arms defensively.

''FRIENDS?''

''Yeah, friends-'' Dick began. Then suddenly the massive purple and gold form of Major Force appeared, his fist smashing into the Dalek. The thing let out an electronic scream as it plummeted away, sent flying about a mile away by Force's punch.

''Oh that felt nice,'' Major Force grinned and cracked his neck. He then looked over at Nightwing.

''Oh, it's Batman Lite,'' He noted dismissively.

Nightwing has his escrima sticks out in a flash. ''What are you doing here Force?''

''Piss off,'' Major Force lazily flicked his wrist at Nightwing, a blast of dark matter streaked out as Nightwing barely dodged out of the way in an impressive flip.

''You missed!'' Nightwing taunted.

''Try this then,'' Major Force pointed down and fired off a dark matter blast at the building itself. Dick stumbled as the roof under him collapsed. He quickly grabbed a grappling hook and aimed for a nearby street ledge, he fired the gun, quickly grappling on to the nearest ledge.

But Major Force laughed and fired off another blast, sending Nightwing plummeting down to the ground and rubble. Suddenly a pair of arms caught him as he fell and Nightwing was carried over to a nearby roof and deposited safely.

''Kory?'' he looked at his rescuer.

Starfire stood before him, all six and a half feet of voluptuous orange alien. His old flame was looking at him with concern in her solid green eyes. Obviously she was expecting a fight.

''I came out here to see the Metaltron. I recognized the Corps symbol. I wanted to ask questions. It's a good thing I found you Dick,'' Starfire told him.

''Yeah, and I could really use the help.'' Nightwing nodded thankfully.

''Oh, look its Space Snooki,'' Major Force floated up and sneered at her. She promptly answered him with a starbolt to the face. He reeled back, clutching at his face even as he powered up another starbolt.

''This is a public place Force! There are innocent people here!'' she shouted as he blasted him again and again, her blasts driving him further and further back. Suddenly he stopped being driven back and started laughing despite the starbolts being hurled at him. The quantum warrior responded by unleashing a huge blast struck her and sent her flying to the ground.

''Kory!'' Dick shouted in concern.

''Yeah, I think I'll have some fun with you later. I can get real inventive with my powers, like this,'' Major force grinned as he began to suck out the sunlight from Starfire's body while while erecting a shield of dark matter around her to filter out sunlight.

''God I love dark ma-'' Major Force began, then a red plunger construct attached itself to his face and began to squeeze. The Dalek flew down.

''I AM NOT DEFEATED. PREPARING FOR A COUNTERATTACK!'' The Dalek landed down next to Starfire and promptly used its ring to blast the shield of dark matter off of her. Meanwhile Dick landed next to them.

''ARE YOU INJURED FELLOW CRIME FIGHTER?'' The Dalek asked Starfire, who was rendered speechless.

''I am fine thank you,'' She answered. Major Force then ripped off the red construct and crushed it.

''Alright I'll kill-'' he began, before another plunger construct smashed him upwards into the stratosphere.

''STAY BEHIND. THE SITUATION IS BEING HANDLED!'' the Dalek turned to speak to them, and then it flew up. Starfire looked at Dick. She would have headed after the two, but she needed some time to regain her strength and purge herself of the dark matter.

''That being should be overwhelmed with rage, '' Starfire wondered quizzically

''Yeah, I looked at Green Lantern's notes. It doesn't make any sense,'' Dick agreed.

* * *

Above, high in the atmosphere, the Dalek faced Major Force who has righted himself. The supervillian's hands glowed with dark matter as he thrust them forward at the same time the Dalek let out a massive ringblast.

The two energies collided in a massive explosion, sending shockwaves through the air as the two cosmic energies collided with each other. The Dalek's scanners pierced the suddenly energy plume, noting Force's position.

''SCANS CONFIRM BEING AS THE INFERIOR CRIMINAL CLIFFORD ZMECK!'' the Dalek declared. Scans revealed Major Force to be some sort of energy being in a metal field. This matched up to the data the Dalek had on Major Force. Allegedly as an energy being he couldn't be killed. The Dalek was eager to test that theory.

''Hey who are you calling inf-'' the Major was cut off yet again as the Dalek hit him with a plunger again. Angrily, the Major replied by firing off another series of dark energy blasts at the Dalek, who responded in kind with crimson rage blasts.

Above in the sky, energy blasts filled the air as the Dalek and Major Force fought each other. Two cosmic warriors tearing into each other with everything they had. At full power they could easily destroy the planet if things got out of hand.

The key difference between the two however, was that Major Force was stupider.

The Dalek threw up a set of construct shields to block each one of Major's Force's blasts before firing one of its own back at the quantum warrior, who smirked and forged his own shield out of dark matter. However, right before it reached Major Force, the blast spilt into countless tentacles and began to restrain him.

''What the f-'' Major Force was cut off by another plunger construct trying to crush his head. Several of the tentacles spouted spikes and pierced Major Force all over his body. Normally such a thing would have released an immense quantum explosion, but the Dalek made energy converter constructs around the Major and began to drain him of his energy to prevent such a thing.

''What the hell are you doing!'' Major Force screamed as he started blasting everything he had at the Dalek. With horror the quantum warrior realized he was growing weaker. Rapidly the ring wielder reinforced his shields as much as he could. The Red Lantern began flying up out of Earth's atmosphere and quickly out of orbit into the depths of space.

''YOUR STATUS AS AN ENERGY BEING RENDERS YOU IMMORTAL. BUT I WILL EXTERMINATE EVEN AN IMMORTAL!'' the Dalek told him as it pushed the Major further and further into space. Force gaped at him struggling to escape his bonds, but the Dalek has absorbed too much energy from him, transferring it to a dimensional shunt into the Bleed.

''I'll kill you! I'll kill you!'' the Major screamed.

The Dalek remained silent, simply using its ring to enclose Major Force into a refrigerator construct. Then he used its ring to open up a hole in the Bleed behind the imprisoned form of Major Force. Finally the Dalek pointed it's gunstick at Major Force.

''EXTERMINATE!'' a massive blast struck Major Force, blasting him to shreds and sending him hurling into the depths of the Bleed. The Dalek then closed off the bleed portal and turned away. Major Force was defeated.

**''Warning. Hyperspace portal detected.''** The Dalek's ring warned. The Dalek hurried towards the emergence point, curious to find out who had emerged. He soon found out.

It was a massive sleek ship of unknown design. Next to it was what looked like a miniature spiked sun floating in the void. The Dalek commanded the ring to scan both. The scans revealed the ship to be similar to the technology used by Braniac, the Coluan supervillian, and the floating star to be a Solaris-Class Marco Processor unit, a rare and deadly superweapon. In addition the ring revealed something else.

**''Scanning… life signs matching current operator have been identified. A single Dalek life sign confirmed.''** The ring reported.

* * *

**Author's Note:** As for Major Force, I do admit to taking some liberties with his powers. Evidently in the comics Force cannot fly, while in the animated adaptations he can. I chose to give him the flight power for convenience.


	17. Braniac

**Author's Note:** Another snippit. Thanks to Scriviner for editing help.

* * *

A Dalek was alive? The Red Lantern was curious as to what the Dalek was doing in Braniac's ship. How did the Dalek even get here? The Red Lantern himself had evidently arrived entirely by accident and had no idea on how to return home. More importantly how would be deal with this Dalek? He himself was tainted, objectively inferior in Dalek ideology and yet… he himself did not quite so feel inferior. After all had he not survived and prospered?

Strange, to think all those months ago he had considered his current state to be living sickness. Since his failed suicide his life since then had been…interesting for a lack of a better word. His human side had allowed him to see new options and possibilities. Evidently a power ring worked best when used a being of great imagination. It was an odd feeling, as if his own flesh was rebelling against himself. He should hate himself, yet he could not deny the advantages that his human side gave him. It was confusing to say the least for the Red Lantern.

But hate was his power. He hated non-Daleks. He hated himself. He hated the Green Lanterns. He hated that non-Dalek technology was objectively superior to some Dalek technology. He hated the universe. Hate defined him.

He dismissed that thought. He would consider that later. Right now he had Braniac's ship to deal with. If the ring's database was any indication the ship would be a tough challenge even for the Dalek, to say nothing of the solar war engine operating with it. This one might require help. Uneasily the Dalek considered the fact that he might actually need help for this one. No, help was the wrong word. The Dalek needed _minions_ for this fight. Yes, that thought comforted the Dalek better.

He rapidly turned around and headed right towards Earth and its moon. He would have to enlist the JLA and Earth's Green Lanterns. They would obviously help, even if only to protect their own home planet from attack.

* * *

''HE IS COMING! THE FIRE AND BLOOD AND RAGE!'' The thing giggled in its containment field. The Braniac Primary Probe was silent, even as it recorded every bit of information that the anomaly had given away.

The Braniac Probe had encountered the being a Terran week ago, having been investigating a cosmic phenomenon. The creature was unlike any other than Braniac had encountered. It had strange energy readings that were off the charts.

Evidently, further information had revealed another one of its kind. Ever hungry for knowledge, Braniac had sent the Pulsar Stargrave to rendezvous with one of his primary probe replicas with orders to go to Earth and retrieve it for proper study. Braniac himself was not quite ready to risk his true body in battle.

''THE GREAT ANGER BOILS AND BOILS YESYESYESYES! EVERYTHING WILL BURN BEFORE IS ANGER.'' The thing continued to rave. It was some sort of squid-like lump with a single eye in its center mass. It had arrived in Braniac's ship in some sort of ruined transport unit that Braniac had never encountered before. The top half had evidently been ripped off, leaving the thing strewn in a mess of wires and life support tubes.

''_Silence. Your words are illogical.''_ The Braniac Probe turned it's cold gaze towards the thing.

''SUCH A SAD BEING. DOES THE LITTLE PUPPET MOCK ME? YES YOU DO! YES YOU DO! SO CONFIDENT YET SO BLINDBLINDBLINDBLIND!'' the thing giggled insanely. The Probe turned it's attentions away from the creature.

The Braniac Probe noted that long-range scanners detected the presence of the Red Lantern even as it moved away from the snip and headed right towards Earth. It was no doubt fleeing to gain the support of Earth's Superhero population.

But the Braniac Probe was not worried. Indeed as an android it was incapable of calculated odds of victory in its favor. It had its own group of specifically designed combat drones, the ship's weapons and the Solaris-class superweapon at its disposal. That weapon in particular has been specially upgraded and improved by Braniac.

''_Prepare for combat.''_ The probe transmitted coldly to the Pulsar Stargrave.

''_**Yes master.''**_

* * *

To put it simply Kyle Rayner was surprised. He and John were all present at the headquarters along with Superman, the Flash, Cyborg, Wonder Woman and Plastic Man when they received an urgent call from their newest arrival on the block.

''GREETINGS! I REQUIRE ASSISTANCE!'' the Dalek said, having to choke back disgust at having to ask for help. Kyle looked at the Dalek's image on the screen. It had been something he had not expected.

''What do you mean?'' Superman asked.

''A SHIP BELONGING TO THE ENTITY BRANIAC HAS EXITED HYPERSPACE IN YOUR SOLAR SYSTEM!'' the Dalek then transmitted an image of Braniac's ship. Superman's fist tightened up momentarily. He knew full well how dangerous Braniac was.

''Long-range scanners have confirmed that.'' Cyborg nodded.

''Ring says it's a Solaris-class Marco Processor. That's a pretty nasty solar destroyer weapon.'' John noted, looking up from his ring.

''Where is everyone else?'' Superman turned to Cyborg, who quickly looked over his computer.

''All busy. Sorry guys. It's all up to us now.'' The cybernetic hero apologized.

''SO YOU WILL RENDER ASSITIANCE?'' the Dalek asked.

''Yes, we will.'' Superman told him.

''I WILL PREPARE FOR HEAVY COMBAT THEN.'' The Dalek dropped out of the communications channel.

''Do you really think it's a good idea to aid this guy?'' Kyle asked John.

''Do you want Braniac getting his hands on this guy?'' John questioned.

''Good point.'' Kyle nodded.

* * *

In the depths of space the Dalek waited. Ahead its long-range scanners detected the movement of the enemy force as they entered past Venus and headed right towards Earth at cruising speeds. Scans then detected the presence of two Green Lanterns and the rest of the JLA.

As they moved in the Dalek noted the presence of Superman, Wonder Woman, Kyle Rayner and John Stewart.

''IT THIS IT?'' the Dalek asked.

''Everyone space capable is deploying in a first line of defense. Everyone else is on Earth, preparing for any ground-based assault.'' John Stewart told him. The Dalek turned his attention away from the Justice League as he observed the first wave of combat drones deploy.

The Dalek immediately moved in to engage as did the Justice League. John Stewart formed a sniper rifle and a Marine construct platoon while Kyle Rayner formed a massive Gundam mecha for himself to pilot and the Dalek formed twenty Dalek drone constructs behind him.

''EXTERMINATE! ANNHILATE! DESTROY! BRANIAC MUST BE EXTERMINATED!'' the Dalek cried.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the constructs shrieked as they flew on, firing off construct blasts.

Braniac's combat drones responded, deploying weapon systems and selecting targets. Energy blasts filled the void as the two sides promptly engaged. It was not an easy fight. Braniac's drones had been built and designed to fight Superman, so they were not easy to take down. Six drones moved in to fight Superman. All of them were equipped with red sun emitters and kryptonite blasters. Likewise Wonder Woman saw herself surrounded by five more drones programmed to counter her fighting style.

John Stewart immediately was engaged in a fierce firefight with many of Brainac's defense drones ad Kyle Rayner smashed aside a single drone and beheaded another with a construct saber before moving in with the Dalek covering him.

Immediately Solaris moved in and promptly let out a stellar energy blast of incredible power. Desperately Kyle began to reinforce his shields. They held barely after the initial blast, but then the Braniac' probe commanded that the Pulsar Stargrave double its power. The resulting blast shattered the Gundam construct even as Kyle Rayner was sent hurling back into the void, desperately summoning up yet another construct as Solaris prepared to blast him again. But the Dalek flew past both Rayner and Solaris, determined to reach Braniac's cruiser.

Point defense weapon blasts filled space as the Dalek ducked and weaved. Rapidly he reinforced his own shields as he came in nearer to the ship's surface. The Dalek created a large cutting laser construct and prepared to open a hole in the ship.

''INITIATING BREACHING PROCESS!'' the Dalek shrieked.

A hole appeared all right, but not the hole he was expecting. A nearby portal retracted and the main Braniac probe unit exited, one arm transforming into a multi-barreled blaster cannon. A massive blast smashing into the Dalek, sending him flying past Rayner.

''DIZZY!'' the Dalek righted itself and summoned up a massive Dalek saucer construct. Engaging its weapon systems it promptly started blasting away at the Braniac cruiser. The ship responded with it's own onboard weaponry.

If the Braniac Probe had emotions it would have frowned. Coldly, it ordered The Pulsar Stargrave to move in and unleash a full on blast right at the Dalek, shattering his rage-filed constructs with two massive blasts. The Braniac unit flew up, engaging more of its weapon systems as he promptly started blasting at more of the Dalek drone constructs that flew up. It ordered the Pulsar Stargrave to move and finish taking out the Dalek.

Kyle Rayner and John Stewart moved in forming a variety of weapon constructs to blast the Pulsar Stargrave. Kyle formed another massive weapon filled mecha and began to struggle with the solar destroyer unit. John Stewart flew in, a construct rifle in his hands as he promptly blasted the Braniac unit in the head and arms, trying to take it apart. However the Braniac unit rapidly affected self-repair protocols, piercing itself back together.

The Dalek moved in with sheer determination and hate behind him. He would not fail. The Dalek fired blast after blast into the Solaris engine that turned around and began blasting both him and Rayner as they attacked it together.

It was still not enough. Superman and Wonder Woman were doing well, but the power of the Pulsar Stargrave was simply far too much for the Lanterns to handle. Even Kyle Rayner, a top-grade Green Lantern veteran and the Dalek working together could barely hold in in check and John Stewart himself was being hard-pressed by ship and Braniac probe. What they had was not enough. They needed more. They needed…

''_**Dalek of Skaro.''**_ A massive crimson figure appeared. It was an immense crimson bull that was covered by a fiery trail of blood. Its horns were fashioned to resemble the symbol of the Red Lanterns. Its eyes were pits of utter hate.

_**''You are mine.''**_

Kyle turned his attention briefly away from the solar destroyer to see the form of the being race towards the Dalek. With a sudden shock he realized the situation was about to get a whole lot worse, although in what way he did not know.

With a massive flash of red light, the Butcher merged with the Dalek.

* * *

**Author's Note:** For those of you not in the knowhow, the Butcher is the incarnation of rage. He's the Guardian emotion entitiy of the Red Lantern Corps. The Pulsar Stargrave first featured in R.E.B.E.L.S pre-reboot were Braniac aquired it.


	18. The Butcher

**Author's Note:** Here is the next snippit. Thanks to scriviner for editing help. And yes for all those who guessed, that is indeed Dalek Caan in the prievous chapter, having survived his experiance on the Crucible. As for any other Whoverse characters...you'll have to wait and see.

* * *

In a flash the Dalek was enveloped by pure power. This was an incredible cosmic force beyond anything the Dalek had experienced before. Now he possessed power far beyond any normal Red Lantern. Now he was rage itself in Dalek form. Normal Dalek sensibility might have taken offense at the thought of anything non-Dalek in its body. But that creed seemed strangely insignificant and small next to the utter might that the Dalek now wielded.

The Dalek saw rage itself pure and unfiltered by any belief or creed. He saw in a moment the sudden vastness of the universe itself. This was a being older than even the Time Lords. A being that literally was the embodiment of rage. It was a refreshingly pure experience for the Dalek.

His form had changed. His casing was now more heavily armored and covered in brutal jagged blades and spikes. He had a pair of massive horns sprouting out of his head casing in the shape of the Red Lantern symbol. Blood seemed to seep and drip from his armor in a fiery aura.

**''Warning. Possession by the Butcher Entity complete.''** Kyle Rayner's ring warned him. Rapidly Kyle disengaged from his current fight with the Pulsar Stargrave and retreated. This was not done out of cowardice, Rayner was a Green Lantern after all. However only a fool would get in the way of this newly forged cosmic killing machine.

_Kill them all._ The Butcher whispered. _Kill everything. They are non-Daleks. Everything is impure. You are impure. They deserve your hate. Everything deserves our hate. Exterminate. Exterminate everything._

The Dalek's eyestalk focused on the Pulsar Stargrave, who promptly unleashed its full stellar energy blast right at the Dalek. It was a beam of incredible force, channeled by the Stargrave's macro processors into a blast capable of annihilating a planet with ease. The Dalek blocked it with a crimson shield. With the Butcher's raw power at his tentacles, the Solaris class solar destroyer seemed to be so pathetic by comparison. The Dalek promptly formed a massive plunger construct and grabbed the Pulsar Stargrave.

The thing struggled with all its might, but the Dalek promptly began draining it with energy. With the Butcher's power it was child's play to drain away the energy of a supernova. Not even the heat of a star could compare to the power of the rage entity. Rapidly the Pulsar Stargrave grew weaker and weaker.

''**EXTERMINATE!''** the Dalek's voice was now deeper, like that of the Dalek Emperor. The plunger than hit the Pulsar Stargrave with incredible force, sending the Solaris-class superweapon flying across the entire solar system and past the remains of Pluto.

_Kill the probe. Kill the Ship. Kill the Lanterns. Rage. Hate. Exterminate._

''**EXTERMINATE!''** The Braniac probes knew no fear. Nevertheless it promptly turned to flee back to its ship as quickly as it could. Swiftly the Dalek's gunstick tracked it and fired. A massive crimson blast engulfed the probe, disintegrating it down to the last particle.

''**EXTERMINATE!''** next the Dalek formed a massive axe. Several of Braniac's combat drones, made to fight kryptonians, were promptly sliced in half and blasted to pieces by the Dalek's axe construct and god-like powers.

_Kill them all. Slaughter them all._ The Butcher whispered in the Daleks mind. The Dalek turned to look at Kyle Rayner who abruptly raised a set of blast shield constructs with his ring. The gunstick raised and prepared to fire.

_No._ The Dalek suddenly thought.

_Kill them all!_ The Butcher's voice rose.

With great effort the Dalek repeated itself. _No._

_Kill everything! Exterminate!_

_No._ The Dalek thought again. _My rage is my own. I do not take orders from you. This is not the same. My rage will be focused and pure_, he thought with great effort. The Butcher poured its hatred and rage directly into the Dalek in response.

Any lesser creature would be overwhelmed pure hatred and rage, driven to become a mindless berserker by the Butcher's powers. However if there was any creature that could resist the Butcher, it was a Dalek. In their minds the Dalek fought the Butcher. The JLA watched in trepidation as the Butcher-Dalek suddenly went silent and still. Then slowly he turned towards the ship and began tearing it apart with clinical precision. The JLA watched carefully from afar. They were brave but not stupid.

Eventually the Butcher-Dalek found the Dalek n the half-destroyed casing sitting on one of the ship's storage rooms. The Butcher's power effortlessly disabled the security field around it and rapidly the Butcher-Dalek created a construct bubble with its' own atmosphere around the giggling Dalek. Then he flew up and blasted away, disappearing at FTL speeds as he opened a hyperspace portal.

''Should we follow?'' Kyle asked.

''It's leaving, that's good enough for me,'' Superman said wearily. They already had Braniac's mess to clean up.

''Arlight, I have to inform the Guardians about this thought. Ring: open a channel to Oa.''

* * *

Somewhere, on a distant remote planet in Sector 2815, a hyperspace portal opened and the Butcher-Dalek and his charge flew through it. Rapidly the Butcher-Dalek flew through the atmosphere of the planet below. Sensors indicated this planet was habitable for even exposed Daleks.

In the middle of a pale grey wasteland, the Butcher-Dalek set down. Dalek Caan watched with interested as the Butcher-Dalek backed away from him. The Butcher-Dalek's very casing shook as if undergoing some great struggle. It almost reminded Caan of when Sec underwent his transformation.

Suddenly the Dalek's power battery materialized on a nearby rock. With a deafening metallic scream the Dalek formed some sort or surgical construct and opened his own casing. The Dalek's own form was suddenly revealed. Now his skin was pure red with a pair of twisting horns protruding from its cranium with spiked tentacles.

_Rage._ _Will._

The Dalek then seemed to reach in with the surgical constructs and rip out the Butcher. Slowly the surely the bull-like form of the Butcher emerged from the Dalek's body, the rest of the Dalek's form beginning to revert to its previous nature. The Butcher's force was then slowly was put in to the Red Lantern battery itself.

With a slight popping noise the Butcher was sealed in the Red Lantern Power battery. The Dalek sat there, utterly exhausted by the experience. It was the most excruciating process he had ever been in, even worse than being tortured by Van Statten's guards, or being hurled through time and space itself.

It closed up its casing and promptly looked at the Dalek he rescued. The Dalek's casing was wrecked and damaged, with the Dalek exposed to the world. One mad eye started back at the Red Lantern as the Lantern scanned the IFF signal of the Dalek.

''YOU ARE DALEK CAAN! HOW HAVE YOU COME HERE? I REQUEST INFORMATION!'' the Red Lantern was surprised.

''HEHEHEHE. I REMEMBER YOU. THE LITTLE DRONE AT THE COMMAND STATION. YOU WERE THE LAST TO SEE US AWAY BEFORE WE LEFT IN THE VOID SHIP. WELL LITTLE DALEK IF YOU WANT, I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!'' Caan cackled.

And so he did.

Caan described the Cult of Skaro hiding away inside the void while the Time War reached its destructive conclusion. It described them heading back to their world, landing on the planet called Earth. It described the Cult's exit from the ship.

It described meeting several of the Doctor's companions and learning of the current state of affairs. Caan described the Cult of Skaro's encounter with an army of Cybermen, and then an encounter with the Doctor himself. It described fighting through an army of Cybermen and the following deployment of the Genesis Ark. Millions of Daleks began to exit their prison, ready for conquest and slaughter of the human population on Earth. It described the Doctor sucking all of them back into the void as the Cult barely escaped.

Caan described the Cult being forced to hide in the sewers of New York City. Low on power the Cult has to resort to drastic means to rebuild their race. They had to resort to genetic hybrids in order to finally perfect the Dalek race.

That surprised the Red Lantern. He knew the Cult's reputation. They were a legend, a special black ops unit in the Dalek hierarchy. They were created to do that no other Dalek could do. They were made to think and to innovate new ways of killing. There was all sorts of tales about the byproducts of the Cult's mad science. But that move was unorthodox in the extreme. Caan described Dalek Sec fusing himself with a human to become a human-Dalek hybrid. Caan then described another incident with the Doctor and how the Doctor foiled the Cult's plans again. It described how Jast and Thay were killed in a battle with their own Dalek-infused humans.

It described fleeing yet again in an emergency temporal shift. It described an utterly insane attempt to enter the Time War. An attempt that somehow succeeded. One little Dalek rescued Davros himself from the jaws of the Nightmare Child and fled back to reality with him.

However that process left him utterly insane. The Red Lantern listened when Caan described what he saw and what happened next. Davros rebuilt the Daleks, but Caan betrayed them as the Doctor and his metacrisis companion annihilated the Daleks. Caan described using its emergency temporal shift one last time, trying to find a good place to die, before it had ended up on Braniac's ship.

The Red Lantern's gunstick rose.

''YOU HAVE BETRAYED THE DALEKS!'' he shrieked in utter rage.

''OH? AND HAVE YOU NOT BETRAYED THE DALEKS AS WELL? YOU HAVE THE STINK OF HUMANITY ABOUT YOU. I CAN PRACTICALLY FEEL IT. IN FACT I WOULD SAY I AM MORE PURE THAN YOU, GENETICALLY SPEAKING.'' Caan gloated.

The Red Lantern backed away.

''BUT I HAVE ADHERED TO DALEK PRINCIPALS! THE ONLY REASON I FAILED TO EXTERMINATE MYSELF WAS BECAUSE OF DAMAGE!'' the Dalek told him.

''THEN WHY DID YOU NOT REPAIR YOUR CASING SINCE THEN? WHY DID YOU NOT USE THAT RING TO KILL YOURSELF?'' Caan asked.

The Dalek was silent.

''BECAUSE YOU DID NOT WANT TO DIE. YOUR HUMANITY AFFECTED YOU.'' Caan told him.

The Dalek remained silent.

''WHY DID YOU RESCUE ME, KNOWING YOU WERE IMPURE?'' Caan asked another question.

The Red Lantern remained silent.

''BECAUSE YOU ARE LONELY. HUMAN EMOTIONS AFFECTED YOU MORE THAN YOU THOUGHT. I SAW WHAT THE DALEKS BECAME. WE FACED DESTRUCTION BECAUSE OF OUR OBSESSION WITH PURITY. WE WERE MONSTERS WHO DID NOT DESERVE TO FUNCTION. DESTROYING US WAS A BLESSING ON THE UNIVERSE!'' Caan proclaimed.

The Red Lantern stared at Caan. Everything the mad Dalek uttered was utterly heretical by the standards of any sane Dalek. Everything he uttered should get him Exterminated in an instant. However the Red Lantern found himself pausing.

His possession by the Butcher had allowed him to experience the universe in a whole new way. He had experienced the purity of rage unfiltered by bias or belief. The Dalek creed of racial purity seemed so narrow minded and blinkered to someone who had been possessed by rage itself. IHe thought of Sec, who transformed himself into a human-Dalek hybrid in order to evolve. The so-called purity of the Daleks had nearly brought about their extinction and destruction. If Caan was right then the Dalek was gone for good in their home dimension.

At the moment the Dalek suffered an existential crisis. His human morals agreed with Caan. However His Dalek side wanted to embrace the rage and exterminate Caan for betraying their entire race to the Doctor.

After a moment he spoke.

''THIS IS…NEW. I DID NOT EXPECT ANY OF THIS. BUT IN MY EXPERIENCE CERTAIN TRUTHS HAVE BEEN REVEALED TO ME ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE ITSELF AND THAT OF RAGE.'' The Red Lantern began, eyestalk raised.

''MY HUMAN SIDE ALLOWED MY IMAGINATION TO SURVIVE AND USE THE POWER RING IN WAYS MY FORMER SELF DID NOT. MY HUMAN SIDE ALLOWED ME TO SEE NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE NATURE OF RAGE. MY DALEK CORE HOWEVER, ALLOWED ME TO USE AND CHANNEL MY RAGE. MY DALEK SIDE IS WHAT ATTRACTED THE RING IN THE FIRST PLACE. MY HATE GAVE MY STRENGTH.'' The Red Lantern paused to make a construct of several more Daleks.

The Red Lantern then uttered words he never thought he would say.

''I…I AM SUPERIOR TO THE SO-CALLED 'PURE' DALEKS. I HAVE LEARNED A HYBRID IS SUPERIOR TO A NORMAL DALEK. DALEK SUPREMACY CAN ONLY BE ATTAINED BY EVOLVING AND ADAPTING WITH THE POWER OF RAGE!'' The Red Lantern proclaimed.

''I WILL BE THE FIRST OF A NEW DALEK RACE! I WILL CREATE A NEW DALEK PARADIGM THAT WILL COMBINE DALEK RAGE WITH HUMAN IMAGINATION. IT SHALL BE A NEW RACE OF DALEKS TO SERVE THE RED LIGHT ITSELF!'' The Red Lantern turned to face the power battery.

''OUR PURITY SHALL BE THE PURITY OF THE RED LIGHT! IT SHALL SHAPE AND GUIDE US, BUT THE DALEKS WILL PROVE OUR SUPERIORITY BY MASTERING IT! WE WILL BE THE SUPREME BEINGS BECAUSE OF OUR RAGE! THE BUTCHER ITSELF WILL HELP IN MY NEW GENESIS! IT'S POWER SHALL HELP FORGE A NEW DALEK RACE IN MY IMAGE!'' The Red Lantern proclaimed.

Caan blinked. This was not quite what it had in mind when it talked to the Dalek. Well…at least it was better than the alternative.

* * *

This was probably the most unpleasant situation Lobo had ever been in. He had suffered immense pain and physical injuries before. He had fought ring wielders before. He had even defied the very afterlife itself before.

But being burned alive repeatedly by the heat of the sun was not his idea of a fun time. Even he could not escape the sun's gravity well without his bike. So he was condemned to utter agony, burning up again and again and regenerating.

Suddenly he felt himself shift through the blinding pain as he was deposited hastily on a cold metal floor. The burned meat of Lobo shifted slowly as stubs grew into limbs, muscle and skin appeared. After a few seconds eyes and ears began to properly form. Lobo gasped as he pushed himself off the metal floor. He looked around the cold insectoid room. There were several blue figures surrounding him, weapons at ready. Lobo was well-aware of the Reach and he already guessed their reason for behind here.

''Sssssoooooo, what can the main man do for you?'' Lobo grinned.

''We are in need of your talents bounty hunter.''

* * *

Meanwhile, hundreds of Sectors away on a distant planet, the air began crackling with strange lightning and distortions as time and space itself was being cracked apart. All around various animals and insects scampered away in fear.

There was a loud screaming noise as a single figure appeared in a flash of light. The figure hit the ground hard, sending up a small plume of dust. After a few moments the strange figure on the ground took a deep breath and got up.


	19. Fear

**Author's Note:** And now for something completely different. Thanks to scriviner for editing help here. As always reviews and comments are welcomed.

Oh, and I apologize for not adressing the nothing King. to answer your question, perhaps not. Caan has already arrived and I'm not sure if I can fit Davros into my plans.

* * *

The man hit the ground hard.

Above the air crackled with electricity and distortions as the man looked up, bloods dripping from his lip were he had hit the ground hard. He groaned in pain as the distortions disappeared with a loud cracking sound, leaving him alone.

He got up uncertainly, brushing dust off his filthy clothes and he looked up at the sky. The stars were wrong. This was not Earth. This was not even the galaxy that Earth was in. Everything felt different to him. What had happened to him?

There was a shout in an alien language and the man turned to see some sort of tall lizard-like creature in furs walk towards him, a crude weapon in hand. There was several more of its kind behind him. All of them looking like members of some primitive tribe. The man tensed up as the first warrior neared him and barked out a command in some alien language, weapon waving out threateningly. The man responded by throwing forth his palm and suddenly a huge blast of blue-white lightning issued out, throwing the warrior back.

The other lizard people suddenly flew away in fear, screaming in their language as the man straightened himself up, lightning crackling around his hands. He looked around for any more of the local tribesmen, only one of them remained, clearly too terrified to move by his show of force, the man locked eyes with it slowly.

''I am the Master and you will obey me!'

* * *

The lizard man's flesh warped and twisted in sheets of lightning as the Master fed off his lifeforce. The Time Lord's form briefly flashed, showing his glowing skeleton before his form returned to normal with the added sustenance. The Master let the body fall away. His form was still degenerating. Damn Lucy. Damn her to whatever hell existed for traitors. The Master knew he had about a year or so to live if he was allowed regular sustenance.

On a more positive note the drums were gone. It felt strange to finally feel silence after nine centuries of the unending drum beat that had dominated his life. Absentmindedly his fingers tapped his thigh in a steady four beat. It didn't take him long to realize he was in another universe. His Time Lord senses allowed him to see the ebb and flow of reality in a way no human could. Here time was completely different than what he was used to. Like apples and oranges, similar but different.

Truthfully the Master was not quite sure what happened. The last thing he remembered was blasting Rassilon with everything he had in order to save the Doctor just as Gallifrey was being brought back out of the Time War into the regular timestream. He remembered a bright burning light engulfing him and the Time Lords on the podium before everything just went hazy and blurry. Then he fell here.

He then turned his thoughts to his current solution. What would he do now? The Master had been stranded before, but even then it was in his own universe and he could always at least hope for someone or something to pick himself up. However now he was stuck in another universe on some sort of primitive planet with filthy savages. At least Earth, despite being a backwards mudball, had at least some entertainment. This place was hardly fitting for the Lord and Master of the universe.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a gold comet that streaked through the sky and landed about twenty miles away. The Time Lord quickly realized that this was no natural comet from the trajectory and speed. This was something else. Truthfully the Master had no idea what it was, but anything beat just standing here. Giving a sign of frustration, the Master determinedly set out towards the comet. The Time Lord could do with some exercise anyway.

Sixteen minutes later he arrived at the crash site. A crater, about eleven feet deep and sixty feet wide, had been blasted into the ground. The Master peered over the crater and climbed down cautiously down, carefully keeping his grip on the rock steady.

There was an alien, clad in some sort of yellow and black uniform. It resembled some sort of ugly cross between an ape and a worm. It had a gaping wound in its chest. It opened one of its six eyes and looked at the Master, waving one arm at him weakly. The Time Lord noticed a yellow ring on the arm. For some reason that ring's golden glow fascinated him.

''You-you h-human…'' the thing gurgled and suddenly fell still. A human? Really? The Master was continutlly annoyed at being repeatedly mistaken for a member of that privmiative race. It was the humans who looked Time Lord.

The Time Lord was disappointed. It was obviously dead of its wounds, not that the Master cared about its life. However any piece of information was welcome at this point.

Suddenly the yellow ring slid off its finger and rose in the air.

**''Ring status report: Sinestro 1971 deceased. Initiating sector scan.''** The ring intoned, floating up in the air. Suddenly it stopped.

**''Scanning for fear…target sentient located.''** The ring swopped towards the Master who stumbled back.

**''[ERROR] recalibrating...Designate: the Master of Gallifrey. You have the ability to instill great fear. Welcome to the Sinestro Corps.''** The ring quickly slid on the Master's left hand and the Time Lord was suddenly engulfed in gold light.

When it cleared the Master stared at the ring on his hand. He then realized he was wearing a different outfit. He had on some sort of yellow and black bodysuit with golden armbands and boots. He had some sort of strange symbol on his chest as well.

Then came the feeling of power. The Master laughed in triumph.

* * *

One explanation of the ring's abilities and about a half hour later, the Master relaxed on a construct chair in the middle of the air as twisted and warped constructs his mind had created slaughtered the local creatures below. Normally the Master would have taken little notice of them, however he did want to test out his new ring.

''One door closes, another one opens.'' he said to himself, examining the ring.

And what a wondrous thing it was! It was evidently some sort of hard light construct weapon made for interstellar warfare. The ring had many wondrous functions that the Master was itching to explore. He also had a way off this rock.

More importantly the ring had already stabilized his deteriorating condition. He would no longer be in any danger of dying from a weakening body as long as he wore the ring on his person and its energies sustained him.

The ring also had a comprehensive database that the Master eagerly waited to sink his teeth into. The ring had already given him the basic history and layout on this new universe and the various Lantern Corps that existed.

He learned of the Guardians of the Universe, a civilization as old as the Time Lords themselves. He learned of the Green Lantern Corps, their soldiers and servants who wielded the green light of willpower. He learned of the traitor Sinestro and the formation of his own corps.

Sinestro had forged his ring with the help of the Qwardians. The Master was very interested in checking them out. Meanwhile he had no real intention of serving Sinestro. He had his own ideals and ambitions. Sinestro could not lead his Corps forever.

However his musings took a somber turn.

''A universe without the Doctor? How boring would that be?'' The Master chuckled bitterly. He paused to create a construct image of the Doctor with his ring in the air, looking at it intently for several moments. He paused to morph the construct back through the Doctor's various incarnations, going all the way back to his first incarnation, the face he knew when they were childhood friends on Gallifrey.

Where would be get his entertainment now? The Master could privately admit that he could dearly miss his mental sparring with the Doctor. The prospect of facing a new challenge without his former friend and greatest enemy to oppose him seemed frightfully dull.

He dismissed the Doctor construct and rested his hand on his chin while he examined his ring in his left hand. He had new futures to look at and new challenges to overcome, although conquering the universe without the Doctor would lack a certain charm to it.

The Master closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Then when he opened them he was greeted to a golden vision of Gallifrey. All around him were tall spires and buildings of Time Lord architecture. He had recreated the Citadel on Gallifrey exactly as he remembered it before the Time War.

Walking, detailed constructs of the Council of Time Lords bowed down for him in reverence. The Master himself fashioned construct robes of the Lord President around himself, complete with the Sinestro Corps symbol.

For one moment the Master's dreams were fulfilled. Then the constructed faded away.

Later the Master peered over a set of construct images in rapt fashion. All around him he had constructed his own laboratory with all sorts of construct equipment. It was like having his own TARDIS back, although he would still have to get used to this shade of yellow.

''What is this?'' the Master muttered in fascination as he peered into a construct of a Gallifreyan device. Time was…different back here. The Time Lord had expected some differences yes, but it was as if someone had already meddled with the time stream here. It was like some idiot had taken a paintbrush and haparzardly tried to cover up a mistake on a portrait.

Could this universe have its own version of the Time Lords? Possible, the ring had already briefed him on a number of time-sensitive organizations in this universe, but at the moment they were out of reach. He had no idea how they would react towards any temporal operations he might conduct.

Then never mind that then. The Master had created a construct TARDIS experimentally and began tentative attempts to breach the local timestream before giving up before he pushed too far. It was already too difficult and he was afraid he might cause some sort of temporal backlash and possible kill himself. He had only recently escaped from the jaws of death and had no attempt to push his luck.

But he had other horizons to explore. Other worlds to conquer. He had already sworn he would master the universe and he supposed even an alternate universe would suffice for his purposes. His only regret was that the Doctor would not be here to witness his victory.

In truth the Master's twin hearts beat with excitement at the prospect of seeing new alien worlds and races for the first time. He would go were no Time Lord had ever gone before. They would all bow down to him. All thanks to this ring.

A variety of construct images filled the air. Yellow constructs of the Green Lantern Corps, the Sinestro Corps, the Red Lanterns and so on. The Master looked them over with interest before he stopped at the image of Larfleeze and the Orange Lanterns.

''Now this is interesting…'' he muttered. ''But first a little trip to this 'Qward' place.''

* * *

**Author's Note:** Yes, that's the Master, fresh from his appearance from the ''End of Time.''.


	20. Qward

**Author"s Note:** Here's the next snippet with the Master. Thanks to scriviner for editing help.

* * *

Smoke billowed out from the forges below into the hellish skies of Qward. Various Qwardians moved furtively through the streets, each carrying out their personal tasks for the Weapon Masters. It was just another hard day in the anti-matter universe.

Then there was a flash and a single figure appeared in the skies above the world.

**''Anti-matter transport complete.''** The yellow ring reported. The Master floated above the world and looked it over. It certainly did not impress someone who had traveled the length and breadth of universes. It certainly did not compare to the wonders of Gallifrey.

But this was the place where his ring had been forged. This is the place where Sinestro created his Corps. The Master had learned much about Sinestro. When the renegade Green Lantern had been banished to Qward, he had struck a deal with the Weaponers, telling them everything he knew about the operation of the power rings. In turn they forged the first yellow ring for him to use.

Years later Sinestro returned and created an entire army of yellow ring wielders to serve him in his crusade against the Green Lantern Corps. The Master could learn many valuable answers here, and hopefully he would be able to accomplish some special goals. He flew down rapidly down into some of the darkened streets below.

Hopefully the Qwardians's sensors arrays had not spotted him yet. The Master had made sure to take precautions before he had transported to the so-called anti-matter universe. It would not do to get caught up in a full-scale war just quite yet. The Qwardians still held a grudge against the Sinestro Corps.

Privately the Master almost admired their deadly genius for creating weaponry. Founded countless millennia ago by a being known as the Anti-Monitor, his servants had created all sorts of twisted weaponry to use against the positive matter universe. Superficially they resembled the Time Lords, although with slightly altered facial features and a set of bulging eyes.

The Master then waited into he spotted a pair of Qwardians moving through the darkness and talking to each other. A moment later and a set of ghoulish yellow Ogron constructs appeared to restraint them while the Master stunned them both.

''Now let's have some fun shall we?'' The Master grinned nastily.

* * *

The Red Lantern looked up as he finished repairing Caan's casing. It would be simpler and easier for the ex-Cult member to operate now in a functional casing without the Dalek having to drag his body around everywhere. The Dalek had also taken the opportunity to examine some of the emergency temporal shift technology in his casing.

Not that it did much good. The Dalek had already launched scans of the local time stream. As a veteran of the Time War the Dalek knew how to operate time-sensitive scanning equipment. The timestream here was different, as if someone had messed it up in a shoddy attempt to alter time.

Right now Caan and the Dalek were on an otherwise unnamed planet in Sector 1963, an otherwise unnamed and rather barren world that the Dalek had taken up as a base to begin building its new Dalek race.

''OH. THIS IS VERY NICENICENICE HEHEHEHE.'' Caan chuckled, moving about and testing his new casing.

''I HAVE SUCESSFULLY RESTORED FUNCTIONALITY. YOU ARE MOBILE.'' The Red Lantern Dalek told him as he moved away to observe his construction constructs and robotic worker drones proceed with their construction of a new base and processing center for his future group of Daleks.

Inventing a new race would not come overnight. For what was essentially a low-level soldier, remaking the entire Dalek race was no easy task. However he had the power ring and the Butcher at his disposal to future use. In addition to what he already knew on Dalek genetic engineering in his own databanks the ring offered a variety of information on races with expert cloning and genetic skills.

''WELLWELLWELL WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW LITTLE DALEK?'' Caan asked.

''I MUST PROCEED TO EARTH. MY INFILTRATOR CAN MONITOR CURRENT ACTIVITES BUT I MUST ARRIVE AND MONITOR CERTAIN SECTOR ASPECTS MYSELF.'' The Red Lantern told him.

''MEANWHILE YOU WILL AWAIT HERE!'' The Dalek turned and flew out into space.

* * *

''Master, its ready.'' The Qwardian bowed nervously. The Master got up from his chair, giving a cold smile as he finished overseeing his latest project. He was hiding in a dark, cramped cavern somewhere deep below the depths of Qward. It had been almost a week since he had arrived on Qward and already he had enslaved several of the Qwardian workers and hid deep underground to fulfill his next project.

His power ring was made by the Qwardians, but it was derived from Oan tech. Few beings in the universe could understand the complexities of a power ring, but the Master's intellect proved to be up to the challenge.

He had already hypnotized and bullied the Qwardians into giving up everything they knew about the yellow rings and their construction. The Time Lord devoured all the information they had to offer, his brilliant mind quickly forming plans.

It had been rather difficult to hack the Sinestro Corps ring AI network. He was still learning about Qwardian tech. Sinestro had been very through in making his Corps. Just as the Master had suspected, Sinestro had set up failsafes to control his Corps.

While the Master was thankful for the ring, he had no desire to serve under anyone. Thus he had embarked on a plot to reprogram his ring with the help of the ring's original makers.

''Ring: Activate program now.'' The Master held up his hand, holding a freshly constructed laser screwdriver to it.

**''Complying. Accessing database. Recalibrating…recalibrating finished.''** The ring droned.

''Who do you serve?'' The Time Lord asked.

**''This ring is only answerable to the Master of Gallifrey.''**

''Excellent.'' The Master grinned and created a few constructs of himself as a way to test it. Everything seemed to be working fine so far. He turned his attention to his yellow power battery that he had put on a nearby shelf.

''Ring, what is the status of your current power levels?''

**''Power Levels at 86%''**

''Well then, let's test out the recharge shall we?'' the Master stepped forward, putting his hand to the power battery.

_"In blackest day, in brightest night_

_Your terrors are my delight_

_Let those who'd stand against my rights_

_Burn like my power... the Master's might"_

**''Power Levels 100%''** the ring reported.

''Perfect.'' The Master stepped back and recalled his power battery back into subspace. The Qwardians flinched back as their new Master turned towards them. ''Don't think I've forgotten about you. I still have use for you, but not now.'' The Time Lord told them.

''Now what shall I do? Oh, I know.'' The Master conjured up a construct of Larfleeze, then a construct of a Kryptonian symbol. The ring had informed him about a race that possessed technology that might interest him.

''Ring, where is the last Kryptonian located?''

**''Currently on the Planet Earth located in Sector 2814.'' The** ring reported. The Master rolled his eyes. Even in this universe it was always Earth.

''What is the dominant sentient life form?''

**''A race known as humans.''**

''I guess some things never change.'' The Master sneered. ''The Kryptonian... he is part of an organization called the Justice League? Correct?''

**''Affirmative.''**

''Yet despite being such a backwater, Earth has been invaded by many alien entities, and when such beings are defeated, do they often leave behind various dangerous technologies?''

**''Affirmative.''**

''According to your database then, the Justice League usually seizes all sorts of dangerous technology from these powerful supervillians and holds them for safekeeping?''

**''Affirmative.''**

''Well then, I think a little shopping trip might be in order. Let's pay Earth a visit then.''

* * *

**Author"s Note:** Credit for the new oath goes to scriviner. I admit to taking some liberties with Quardian tech, but the way I figure it, if anyone can reprogram a Sinestro Corps ring it would be a Time Lord.


	21. Lazarus Pit

**Author's Note:** Here's another snippit. Again, thanks to scrivener for editing help.

* * *

The Master hovered in midair before a massive snowy mountain. Snow fell from above and winds howled all around him, but the Master felt none of that thanks to his ring shields. After all, his ring had been designed to operate in the depths of space itself. The Master had taken precautions to hide his energy signature as he slipped past the sensors of the Watchtower onto the Earth below.

''Ring, is the Lazarus Pit nearby?'' The Master asked.

**''Affirmative at forty-six meters in.''** the ring reported.

The ring had briefed him on many things while in-flight to Earth. Overall, this Earth was mostly similar to the Earth he had left behind. It had shared the same basic history culture and languages with the prior Earth he had once ruled. However the Master noted a number of minor differences.

Unlike in his dimension this earth had its own share of superpowered defenders. The Earth is this dimension was quite a different nut to crack than the Earth of his own dimension, but that just made the challenge sweeter. Earth, despite being a backwater, was also seemingly host to some universe-changing events, such as the ''Blackest Night'' phenomenon and something called the ''Crisis''. Even in this universe Earth still managed to be important somehow.

But something that caught his attention was the mention of a ''Lazarus Pit'' the similarity to one of the projects he funded while as Prime Minster of Britain caught his attention. It apparently was a source of mystical energy to restore the body.

Magic. The Master knew his history well. Back in his home universe Rassilon had banished magic out of reality and reshaped in in rational thought. But now the Time Lord was in a place where the irrational now thrived. He would have to watch out for magic. The Master was knowledgeable about many things, but not about magic.

However it could prove the key to his current deterioration problems. The ring was keeping it in check, but the Master preferred a more permanent solution just in case something happened to the ring and he needed to survive on his own.

Quickly, he flew right at the mountain, using the ring to phase his body right through the rock. Faster and faster he went until he emerged in a massive cavern over a boiling orange-yellow pit full of unknown liquid. All around him were masked and hooded soldiers and various servants. There were shouts of alarm all around him as various guns were brought up. There was another warning, which the Master ignored as he landed near the pits.

Gunfire then rained off his ring shields harmlessly. The Master laughed and conjured up a tide of ghoulish, twisted constructs and set them loose on the various assassins and soldiers around him. Screams echoed in the chamber as the Master's creations tore them apart.

''That was fun. Now let's meet the boss shall we? Ring, locate the one called Ras al Ghul.'' The Master grinned.

**''Complying.''**

* * *

Ras al Ghul, the master of the League of Assassins, hung crucified on a giant yellow construct that jutted from the ground. He looked up, gritting his teeth in pain as the man who did this flew around inspecting the Lazarus Pit.

''What a wondrous thing this is. A little immortality pool. But you keep it all to yourself. How greedy is that?'' the Master chuckled.

''Who are you?'' Ras asked, surprisingly calm for a man in his position.

''The Master.'' The Time Lord smirked.

''Your arrogance will be your undoing. There are people on this planet that will hunt you-'' Ras began before the Master promptly put a gag construct on him.

''Silence human.'' The Master lazily grabbed one of the more intact corpses. ''Let's test this shall we?'' the Master proceeded to toss the corpse of the man into the Lazarus pit.

After a few moments the pits boiled and then a screaming howling figure emerged from the pits. It leapt out of the pool and ran screaming at the Master, hands outstretched. The Time Lord then proceeded to restraint the man with a construct and scan him with the ring.

As Ras al Ghul gagged, the Master looked over the data with interest. The man was indeed returned to life, although in a heightened state of aggression of madness. According to the ring that would be only temporary.

''Well then I have no further use for you.'' The Master promptly disintegrated the resurrected man and then turned to fly up to meet Ras. He looked the assassin lord in the eyes.

''I can tell just from looking at you that you would never bend a knee to me. Such a stubborn little man.'' The Master brought his ring up and unceremoniously killed the Demon's Head with one single blast, vaporizing him. As the ashes settled to the ground the Master flew hesitantly over the pit and looked down.

He took a deep breath and promptly plunged in. For a few seconds the pit was still before a screaming figure emerged from it. Then several more figures covered in blood and liquids as they howled and ran around the room. A cloaked screaming corpse smashed into another bearded figure as over a dozen bodies claws at each other in fits of madness. Screams echoed in the chamber as the figures stamped and ran about everywhere.

The Master himself slowly collapsed to the ground. Golden atron energy wafted off him as he slowly pushed himself back up to his feet. It was like undergoing another regeneration, except instead of his former self fading away and a new one coming to fore, it was like everything was being set back to the way it was. It was painful, but shorter than he expected.

Then the Master paused and looked around at the figures. After a moment he realized they were yellow constructs, covered in the pit's liquids. He must have unconsciously generated them during his fit of madness.

The constructs then disappeared and the Master hung in the air for a few seconds, taking slow deep breaths. He paused to scan himself with the ring. When that was finished he smiled and began to laugh.

* * *

The Master sat back in Ras Al Ghul's office, after he had finished scanning the entire place for any traps with his ring. Once he had done that and he had removed anything dangerous to people, the Time Lord now sat comfortably at Al Ghul's personal computer. Here he had an entire criminal empire at his fingertips, but he had no intention of staying here on this mudball of a planet for much longer. With the power ring at his finger he had the entire universe to conquer.

No, he was simply here to use al Ghul's television and computer systems. That and to sample his food stocks. For a man that railed against the abuses of the wealthy aristocracy, Al Ghul had some extensive culinary tastes.

The Master currently sat back sipping some very expensive wine as he currently watched a television show on al Ghul's massive plasma screen TV. The newly restored Time Lord watched the figures of brightly fishes on the screen.

''_Who lives in a pineapple under the sea.''_ The voices on the television sang as the Master switched with interest to a new station. Talking sea life. Such a fascinating idea. The Master always had a weakness for Earth television. The Clangers, Teletubbies and now this.

Not that it would stop him from conquering them all, oh no. The Master switched the channel and took a long swig of his wine.

''_And today Metaltron was spotted flying in New York City after a suspected altercation with Major Force.''_ The television said. The Master's eyes widened as he spotted the figure on the TV and he abruptly spit out his wine in shock, choking and hacking.

The Master lurched forward as he gasped for air, clearing out his throat. A Dalek was here. A Dalek. How in Rassilon's name did it get here? He most certainly did not expect this. This would change things greatly.

He moved over to al Ghul's computer and he pulled up the files. In minutes he had pulled up the files that al Ghul had on various metahumans and came to the one on the ''Metaltron''. The Master quickly took on everything that Ras al Ghul had observed. Rapidly he pulled up audio and video clips that the League had recorded of the Dalek. He silently watched the Dalek's interview with Lois Lane and the digital records of the Dalek in action with Metallo and Toyman.

He leaned back and snorted. The Dalek's tale of being the last survivor it's kind after a great war destroyed it's race was technically true, even if it had failed to mention that, incidentally its race was a heavily armed, genocidal, xenophobic army of Master pushed, resting his hand on his chin. The last time he had seen an actual Dalek face to face had been in his previous regeneration during the Time War. Seeing the Dalek brought back memories of the battlefields and sieges he had fought in before the Dalek Emperor seized the Cruciform and breached Gallifrey's defenses.

That was when he fled from the Time War, using the chameleon arch to make himself human at the end of the universe to escape the Daleks. There the Doctor had found him and accidently released him and their game had begun all over again. But now the Daleks still hounded him, even in another universe entirely. The Master laughed bitterly. Now apparently it was chosen by a Red Lantern ring. That made it more dangerous than ever in the Master's view. The Time Lord knew full well how the Daleks handled rage.

A head on confrontation would be unwise, but the Master disdained brute force. Regardless he would only have to make minor alterations to his plans. al Ghul's resources and databases on the League had been enormously helpful. For a human al Ghul had provided interesting insights on the League's mentality and fighting styles. The old assassin had even crafted a variety of possible plans to counter the League if necessary.

Ras al Ghul also had a link to virtually every form of communications system in the world. Thus the Master began his latest plan. First a hack into the LexCorp mainframes to access their satellite systems. The Master proceeded to upload a form of the Archangel Network into Luthor's systems, a task made much easier with the use of his power ring.

It was something subtle of course, something too overt would result in the Justice League noticing him when the entire point was to focus the Justice League's attention elsewhere so he could pay more attention to the next stage of his plan. The Master then began hacking into a different part of the planet's network going right into the various mainframes of several metahuman prisons.

The Slab. Belle Reve, Iron Heights and several other metahuman prisons, built to hold those with powers above the rest of humanity. Here some of the most powerful beings on earth were kept locked away from the outside world.

Once he had access to their systems, it was child's play to reach into those systems to release each and every superpowered prisoner on the planet simultaneously. All across the world, computerized cell doors holding back the worst this world had to offer deactivated and swung open.

''Have fun kids.'' The Master grinned. It would be a good distraction for the superhero population while he made a few stops. He got up and headed out. Time to put the next part of his plan into action.

* * *

The Dalek flew through the atmosphere again. It had overseen the construction efforts on its new base for about a week before it had judged it sufficient to let the automated drones continue their current construction efforts on the planet.

**''Willpower apporching.''** His ring reported. The Dalek paused to spot the emerald form of Kyle Rayner flew up and look him over cautiously a set of ring shields extended protectively around him. The Dalek turned to look at him quizzically.

''GREETINGS FELLOW CRIME FIGHTER.'' The Red Lantern said as casually as a Dalek could.

''What the- what the hell happened? Where is the Butcher? Why aren't you possessed?'''' he asked in confusion.

''I GOT BETTER.'' The Dalek told him.

Kyle just stared at him.

''Dude, you can't just walk away from that kind of possession just casually. I got possessed my Parallax once, it was not pleasant. How did you even free yourself from it? Where is it now?'' he asked.

''THE BUTCHER IS CONTAINED. I AM NO LONGER UNDER ITS CONTROL. I HAVE COME HERE TO FIGHT CRIME.'' The Dalek told him.

Kyle paused, this was not what he expected. He had already reported the Butcher's appearance to the Guardians on Oa and its prospective new host. Now it was apparently gone again or somehow imprisoned by this Red Lantern.

''Where did you contain it?'' Kyle pressed again. The Dalek was silent for a moment before Kyle ring's beeped again. Just like last time Kyle was interrupted by an emergency. The Green Lantern looked at his ring.

''Yes?''

_''Kyle, this is John, we got a major emergency on our hands. The prisons, somebody opened all of them.''_ John Stewart hurriedly told him.

"What do you mean, 'all of them'?" Kyle asked.

_"Every single meta-human prison on the planet, Kyle. All of them."_


	22. Watchtower Part One

**Author's Note:** Here is the next chapter. Credit to scriviner for editing help.

* * *

It was bad, Kyle Rayner realized, all across the world supervillians where being set free in major prison breaks. Currently Kyle was doing his best to truss up Sonar and Black Spider several miles outside Belle Reve.

The two Supervillians were knocked out and then promptly restrained with green construct chains for the local anti-metahuman police squads to finish bringing them back to the nearest secure location. But Kyle's job was not over. Next to him floated the Dalek. Curiously it was largely silent, helping only to stun several supervillians before they could get too far. Kyle himself was wondering what was going on inside that armored shell. What was the thing planning?

''Alright John, I'm good here. How are you?'' Kyle spoke into his ring.

_''I've just rounded up Grodd and Weather Wizard. Flash is dealing with the rest of his rogues. Superman and Plastic Man have already got their hands full in Metropolis with Titano, Toyman, Parasite, Livewire and Bizarro.''_ John Stewart told him.

The Titans also had their hands full in New York. The Justice League had to call in the reserve members to fully cover their ground. Oddly enough, Gotham City itself was relatively safe due to the recent destruction of Arkham Asylum. The Dalek still denied responsibility.

Then there was another alert on his ring.

_''We've got Killer Frost a mile from your position. We need you ASAP.''_ Cyborg told him via the ring's communications link.

''Alright, got it.'' Kyle turned and flew off. The Dalek turned to follow him.

Ahead, Kyle spotted the pale blue-white form of Killer Frost pausing to freeze a squad car full of police. The supervillian was keeping close to a nearby burning building, one likely caused by the destructive efforts of some other supervillian.

Kyle paused to make green constructs to drive her off from the officers. She sent a large blast of ice at the two Lanterns at their approach. The Dalek threw up a crimson shield, blocking the frost below, then responding by blasting the supervilianess, stunning her.

''THE CRIMINAL HAS BEEN NEUTRALIZED.'' He told Kyle.

The Dalek was perturbed, or at least as perturbed as a Dalek could get. It could detect some sort of low-level psychic signal. If any other psychics on planet Earth noticed it, they would probably be too caught up in the fighting to do realize what its effect was.

The release of the multitude of supervillians was a troubling sign. Not that the Dalek cared, but this psychic signal was uncomfortably familiar. He had seen similar work performed during the Time War. Could something else have slipped into this universe like Caan? It was possible.

* * *

Cyborg looked over various screen in the Monitor Womb. One showed his old teammates, the Titans, fighting off the Fatal Five. Another showed Superman locked in combat with both Bizarro and Livewire. Yet another showed Nightwing tracking down the Key. All across the globe the various superheroes were scrambling to contain the situation.

Suddenly Victor Stone paused and moved out of his chair, one arm transforming in a whir of servos into his signature sonic cannon. He pointed it at seemingly empty space, targeting locked on.

''You can come out now.'' He commanded.

''Oh, well that's impressive.'' Before him a figure appeared. It was a blonde haired man wearing what Cyborg recognized as the Sinestro Corps uniform. The superhero also spotted the signature yellow ring on the man's hand. The man smirked and stepped forward.

''Stay where you are.'' Cyborg warned.

''Oh, how did you find me? I made sure to bend the light around me as I infiltrated your little headquarters here.'' The man told him.

''I've worked with Lanterns long enough to know all their little tricks.'' Cyborg told him.

''Oh, I assure you I have plenty of other little tricks. Now, obey.'' The man said, locking his gaze with Cyborg. The Superhero responded by blasting him right in the face with the sonic cannon, sending the man flying back.

''Sorry, Bionic implants. I don't hypnotize well.'' Cyborg told him. Then a yellow blast proceeded to cut right through the his bionic arm. Cyborg moved to transform his other limb into a sonic cannon, only for that to be blown off as well.

''For a mere human you are impressive. But your cybernetics are frankly, rather crude.'' The man rose, his ring forming strange and alien weapons constructs. He then paused to form some sort of wand in his hand.

''I'm sending out a distress signal now. Soon you'll have the entire Justice League facing you.'' Cyborg warned.

''I'm blocking it with my ring, my human friend. Oh, I don't doubt they'll eventually figure this out and come, but by then I should be gone.'' The man smirked. He pointed the wand right at Cyborg. ''Now this is ironic. Thank you Doctor.'' He pressed the signal.

Cyborg was naturally shielded against EMP attacks. It was something he'd modified his prosthetics against a long time ago. His very life depended on that. However what he did not take into account was a replica of a sonic screwdriver. His body seized up and crashed to the floor with a loud thud.

The Master watched the cybernetic human fall to the ground. Smirking, he strode over to the Monitor Womb and pointed his power ring at the computer. Quickly he began to hack the defenses and move past the firewalls. The security here was better than Ras al Ghul's at least. The Master could grudgingly admit that the protection here was even impressive, for mere humans. Of course, that was something he would never admit outloud.

Almost casually the Master disabled the teleporters and reprogrammed the security to take out any outside intruders, changing the IFF signatures of the Justice League to the ''hostile'' setting. He expected that it would slow them down amply. Then the Master paused to look over the various screens. He saw various humans fighting it out with other humans. Even here they were still a disorganized mudball. The Time Lord sneered with contempt as he switched the view out.

The Time Lord's fingers flew across the keyboard as he began to hack the Justice League's private storehouses. Here they had stored various supervillian and alien tech recovered over years of conflict. It was a veritable treasure trove of technology.

Now all of it would belong to the Master.

* * *

_''This is Batman.''_ The Dark Knight's voice came over Kyle's ring.

''Reading you loud and clear, Bats.''

_''Cyborg has gone silent. I've tried to reach the Watchtower but the teleporters are down.''_ Batman told him.

Kyle paused. His mind putting together the pieces.

''This was all a distraction, wasn't it?'' he asked.

_''Yes. I already suspected it as soon as every supervillian on the planet was freed from their cells. I didn't figure it out at first due to some sort of broad planet-wide hypnotic effect. That's when I started to notice the obvious. It's the Watchtower for some reason.''_ Batman told him.

''What do we do know?'' Kyle asked.

_''I've already informed the rest of the League, but we're all currently busy. I've got Oracle contacting as many space-capable Superheroes that are available. Whoever took over the Watchtower has shut it off from outside access.''_ The Dark Knight informed him.

''Who do you got available?'' Rayner inquired.

_''Starfire, Donna Troy and Red Tornado. It's not much, but it's all we got at the moment.''_

''Well, I got Metaltron here.'' Kyle told him. The Green Lantern heard a growl of disapproval on the other end of the line.

''Hey, we're shorthanded right?''

_''He's a sociopathic killer.''_ Batman growled.

''I DENY THOSE ALLEGATIONS.'' The Dalek said.

''Well, like I said, I really don't have a choice. Green Lantern out.'' Kyle deactivated the link and flew up.

* * *

**Author's Note:** And now we build to the inevitable meeting between the Dalek and the Master...


	23. Watchower Part Two

**Author's Note**: Here is the next snippit. Thanks to scriviner for his edits.

* * *

''There's a drumming noise inside my head / That starts when you're around / I swear that you could hear it / It makes such an all mighty sound.'' The Master sang as he pushed a construct shopping cart right down the middle aisle of the Justice League vaults.

It had taken the Master some time to hack through the League security protocols in this room, but now here he was. He glanced over at the varied technologies and weapons scattered all over the place.

Here was a piece of a Braniac combat probe. Over there was a Dominator warsuit. On a ledge was the torso and head of an Amazo. The Master spotted what his ring identified as New Gods technology and many more strange devices.

''I want this and I want this.'' The Master grabbed various itemsand sealed them in containment constructs for further use. He had already modified several of the League's teleporters for long-range intergalactic transport to a place of his choosing. He had already scouted out a remote planet in Sector 2814 from his ring's databanks.

**''Warning. Target sentients entering perimeter defense grid.''** His ring reported. An image of the Dalek appeared from his ring.

''I see. Activate defenses and transmit the additional protocols I programed.'' The Master smirked.

**''Complying.''** With that the Master turned around and began to head for the Monitor Womb.

* * *

The Dalek flew out of Earth's atmosphere. Truthfully the Dalek did not personally care about Earth or its people, but this was a chance to see the Watchtower from the inside. He doubted that he would ever get another chance like this anytime soon.

As the pepperpot-shaped Red Lantern blazed through space, Kyle moved up behind him, Red Tornado and Donna Troy were currently being carried along and protected in a green bubble construct generated by him.

The Dalek's eyestalk swirled around to observe Starfire as his sensors detected her approach. He was already well aware of her from his previous encounter with Major Force. His ring databanks contained much information about her race, the Tamereanans. They were a warrior race that that drew strength from absorbing sunlight.

The other two the Dalek only had basic information on from Earth's database. One was Red Tornado, a crimson android that could manipulate wind. The other was a hero more associated with Wonder Woman, having similar powers.

Ahead the Dalek spotted the cylinder-shaped Watchtower floating in space. The Dalek paused to run a long-range sensor-sweep of the base. He detected the local defense systems starting to activate as they crossed the perimeter.

''DEFENSE SYSTEMS ARE ACTIVATING.'' The Dalek told them.

''Whoever in in there probably reactivated the defenses and turned them against us.'' Donna Troy remarked.

''Then whoever is in the tower possesses a remarkable technological aptitude. Those systems are among the most difficult to crack on the planet.'' Red Tornado told Kyle.

''WEAPONS FIRE DETECTED!'' The Dalek told them as bright blue plasma bursts filled the void, Starfire ducked and weaved while Kyle threw up a large set of green construct shields. The Dalek plowed ahead, forming a battlecruiser construct around him.

His sensors registered hits, but the Dalek's constructs would hold. The Red Lantern accessed the construct ship's weapon systems are started targeting various weapon emplacements and destroying them with Dalek precision. Kyle and Starfire moved in, helping to take out the weapons with blasts of willpower or starbolts. Donna, lacking ranged attacks, held back for the moment.

One by one each weapon emplacement was blasted out or disintegrated until everything facing the group of Superheroes went silent. The Dalek then disengaged his cruiser construct and then flew closer to one of the panels. A quick scan revealed that all acessways were locked.

''PREPARING BREACHING PROCESS!'' a single red laser blasted out of the Dalek's gunstick as it began to cut a hole right in the Watchtower. A pair of red construct plungers went forth to size the pieces of metal and tear them away, creating a hole.

The air was rapidly sucked out of the side room as the Dalek flew in. Behind him came Starfire, Kyle, Donna and Red Tornado. The Green Lantern promptly made a construct to block the escaping air so everyone could talk properly.

"Sheesh, didn't your mom teach you about maintaining atmospheric integrity on a space station? Some of us need air, you know." Kyle told the Dalek who settled to the ground and looked around.

''SCANS DETECT PARTICLE INTERFERENCE. WHATEVER IS ON THIS STATION DOES NOT WANT TO BE FOUND. I WILL SEARCH FOR IT!'' The Dalek proclaimed. He turned to one of the doors and went up to it. The Dalek pressed its plunger and began hacking.

''Wait, we should stay as a group.'' Donna called after it. The Dalek ignored her and unlocked the door. It then hovered up and flew out.

''Look, Metaltron's a loose cannon. We've got to find a way to regain control of the Watchtower.'' Kyle said.

'Starfire, Donna Troy and I will proceed to the Monitor Womb. Green Lantern, I suggest you follow Metaltron. It would be unwise to leave him unattended here.'' Red Tornado told him.

''Good idea.'' Kyle nodded and flew after him.

* * *

It wasn't long before they found the culprit. Red Tornado had been moving to access the Monitor Womb when they spotted the inert form of Cyborg on the ground. Donna rushed over to the body on the ground, concern written on her features.

''Vic!'' Starfire flew up behind her, worried for Cyborg's life. Red Tornado looked at the cybernetic superhero.

''I believe his backup systems-'' the android began when a single yellow blast came out of nowhere, bursting the Red Tornado apart. Shattered bits of crimson arms and legs flew apart as the two Superheroines turned around to see a single figure floating out behind a pillar.

''My my, a Tamereanan and some sort of human. I was expecting more honestly.'' The Master said, some sort of strange yellow weapons construct floating behind him.

''You! That's a Sinestro Corps uniform!" Starfire flew up, fists enshrouded with solar energy. "You did this!'

''Thank you for stating the obvious'' a yellow ring construct appeared and promptly blasted her, a neutrino wave scrambling her muscle control, paralyzing her. Circling behind the Master, Donna Troy flew up fists raised to strike at him.

The Master barely formed a giant hand construct in time to block her blows. He raised an eyebrow. That kind of strength was impressive. A bigger construct formed from the hand, the form of an immense Great Vampire that could barely stand upright in the room, it backhanded Donna Troy into the wall.

However a massive starbolt struck it as Starfire recovered, another starbolt drove the Giant Vampire construct back. The Master watched with interest. Soon the two superheroines would be double-teaming him in a coordinated effort. Well, he couldn't allow that.

He flew forward, creating two devices with his ring on each of their arms and activating them. The two women suddenly stiffened as they stopped their attacks, their bodies under the Master's control. The Time Lord smirked.

''Electro-neutralizer. Your bodies are under my control now.'' The Master told them. It was child's play to replicate the same devices he had used on Nyssa all those centuries ago on Logopolis. He commanded them to turn around and face him. He stared deep into their eyes.

''Now I am the Master and you will obey me!''

* * *

Kyle followed the Dalek into one of the teleporter rooms. The Red Lantern's eyestalk looked over the various pieces of technology piled carefully on the corner of the room. The Dalek paused to scan the technology briefly.

Kyle looked at the things.

''This is from the League vault. Somebody was in here…and what happened to the teleporters?'' Kyle looked them over.

''CORRECT. THIS TELEPORTER SYSTEM HAD BEEN MODIFIED.'' The Dalek told him, although he neglected to mention these modifications were similar to certain systems he had seen in his own universe.

''Some of the stuff is missing. It's like someone was transporting stuff out of here.'' Kyle remarked.

''Bravo, give the human a doggie treat.'' Someone said in a sarcastic tone from the side corridor. Kyle and the Dalek looked to see a blonde-haired man in a Sinestro Corps uniform walk confidently towards them, Starfire and Donna following him.

''Kori? Donna?'' Kyle looked at them. Their faces were blank and they had some sort of weird constructs around their arms. Crap, the Green Lantern thought. Mind control. He hated fighting mind control villains.

''They're not exactly here right now.'' The man told him.

''You do know that Sinestro has a truce with the Green Lantern Corps right? And that truce extends to include Earth?'' Kyle told him, but keeping himself keyed up for a fight.

''I'm not too concerned with what Sinestro wants.'' The man told him.

The Dalek finished scanning him.

''YOU ARE A TIME LORD!'' he screeched in a surprised tone. Kyle had never heard him surprised before.

''Correct.'' The man smiled.

''IDENTIFY!'' the Dalek demanded.

''I am known as the Master.'' The man told him.

''THE MASTER SURVIVED THE TIME WAR? IMPOSSIBLE!'' the Red Lantern shrieked.

The Dalek certainly knew who the Master was. He was one of the worst criminals that the Time Lord race had ever produced, a fiendish genius bent in the conquest of all life. He had even made himself into one of the Dalek's greatest enemies. The Daleks thought they had exterminated him in ages past, but the Master had a reputation for survival.

When the Time War began, all Gallifreyans had been recalled by the Time Lord High Council to fight in the war. Even Renegades like the Doctor or the Rani had been given full pardons in return for their services. Eventually even the Master had been resurrected by some unknown means and sent to fight in the Time War. The Dalek had on record several sightings of the infamous Time Lord throughout the conflict until he suddenly disappeared after the Battle of the Cruciform. After that, not even the Daleks could find out where he went.

Did he disappear here? It was a plausible explanation. The Dalek paused to cross-reference this Master with the images it held on record. It did not match visual identification, so this appeared to be a new regeneration.

''Oh, I could say the same thing of you. How did you survive the Time War? I thought the Doctor exterminated you all.'' The Master remarked.

''I SURVIVED THROUGH AN ACCIDENTAL TIME RIFT.'' The Dalek told him, the red eyestalk glaring at the Master. ''YOU DISAPPEARED AFTER THE BATTLE OF THE CRUCIFORM. YOU FLED HERE.'' The Dalek accused him.

''Partially correct. I did not flee here to escape, like you, my coming here was an accident. The nature of your travel here would explain the lack of other Daleks." The Master remarked.

''YOUR RACE IS DEAD. THE DOCTOR TOLD ME. IT ALL BURNED. BUT I SURVIVED. MORE OF MY KIND SURVIVED.'' The Dalek told him.

''Ah, yes, the Cult of Skaro. I found out about them. It's too bad they failed. The Doctor beat them again. He has a habit of doing that. Your race can never just catch a break around him can you?'' The Master chuckled. He conjured up a construct of the Doctor, the eighth one, from the Time War. The Dalek recoiled involuntarily at the sight.

''WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING MASTER? ARE YOU GOING TO TRY AND CONQUER EARTH AGAIN? OR ARE YOU GOING TO FAIL AGAIN.'' The Red Lantern demanded.

''Oh, I have no desire to stay on this wretched mudball for any longer than necessary. I've had enough of Earth to last a lifetime.'' The Master sneered. ''No, I have bigger prizes on the horizon.''

''As interesting as this is, I'm afraid you're under arrest here. This place is under the protection of the Green Lantern Corps'' Kyle told him, conjuring up a pair of emerald knights to the sides of him. ''And how about you release whatever control you have on my friends there?'' The Green Lantern had enough of the conversation.

''Oh look, you picked up a pet monkey.'' The Master laughed. He gestured to Starfire and Donna Troy who flew into combat with no warning. Kyle was hit hard in the face by his ex-girlfriend while Starfire began blasting at the Dalek.

The Dalek contemplated just killing the Tamereanan Princess. However that might not go over well with the rest of Earth's heroes. So he formed a set of Ogron constructs to restrain her while he lowered his blast settings to ''stun.'' A single red light shot out and blasted Starfire, stunning the alien princess while he formed a red plunger construct to rip off the yellow construct that was on Starfire's arm. More red chain constructs held her just in case.

Meanwhile Kyle's construct walls started cracking under the blows of Donna Troy. He was reluctant to go all out for fear of harming her. Right now he conjured up around two dozen police constructs to dogpile her while she thrashed under the Master's control. Kyle formed a chisel construct and began to hack away at the yellow bracelet on her.

Suddenly yellow constructs appeared around them. A mass of yellow energy began to rush out. The Dalek recognized it as an atron disintegrator device, one of the many weapons employed by the Time Lord during the war.

Rapidly the Dalek created countermeasures, erecting blast shields and red construct nullifier generators used by the Daleks to prevent them from being completely disintegrated down to the last atom. There was a flash of light before the Dalek managed to defuse it. The Dalek's eyestalk turned around quickly to spot The Master loading more and more technology onto the teleportation pads. The Dalek abruptly fired a blast at the Master, but the Time Lord barely managed to dodge.

However the blast continued on to reduce several pieces of technology to molten slag. The Master whipped around, looking rather furious as he conjured up another set of weapons to use against the Dalek. The Time Lord grabbed the rest of the technology and flew into the teleportation platform.

He created a single laser screwdriver construct in his hands and then pressed the button. In a flash the Master was gone with what remained with his prize. With his disappearance Starfire and Donna Troy stopped struggling.

''He escaped.'' Kyle looked over the teleporters. ''But those things are only meant to travel around the Watchtower and to Earth. What did he do to them?''

''ALERT! ALERT! ENERGY READINGS GROWING IN THE CENTRAL REACTOR CORE! THE MASTER HAS DONE SOMETHING'' the Dalek turned around and flew rapidly out of the room. Kyle paused to check Starfire and Donna for a moment.

The Dalek promptly phased through over thirty floors below to finally appear before the reactor core. Energy whipped around it as the thing began to grow brighter and brighter. The Dalek paused to scan it. After a moment it confirmed his worse suspicions.

"THE MASTER HAS MODIFIED THE CORE TO PERFORM A PARTIAL TIME VORTEX META-COLLAPSE! THE REGION OF AFFECTED SPACE WILL COVER A DISTANCE OF.004 PARSECS!"

"That doesn't sound so bad-"

"AN AREA OF SPACE-TIME TEN TIMES THE DIAMETER OF YOUR ENTIRE SOLAR SYSTEM WILL BE IRREVOCABLY SHATTERED, DESTROYING EVERYTHING." the Dalek told Kyle as he flew up.

''Shit. Can you disarm it?''

''THERE IS NO TIME.'' The Dalek told him. It was not sure it could outrun the blast either given the timeframe. It had to contain the bomb. Immediately a massive crimson shield wrapped around the reactor core as the Dalek hurried to do his best to block the energies. A moment later Kyle Rayner created a massive safe over the Dalek's own shield.

''RING, PREPARE FOR BLEED TRANSPORT.''

**''Complying.''**

After a moment the reactor core started to explode with the force of a supernova. Soon it would expand and cover the solar system and beyond. Kyle willed his shields to stay together as best he could, he once contained a supernova, but this was perhaps beyond even him. It was like trying to hold back an enraged bull with his bare hands.

**''Warning: Energy levels rising at 79% percent.''** The ring reported.

Meanwhile the Dalek poured his rage into his ring. He would not die here at the hands of the Master. He had been through worse. He had been hurled through the space between universe. He had fought the very incarnation of rage itself. He would not die like this. He refused to die like this. His hate powered him onward.

**''Warning: Energy levels rising at 97% percent.''**

Kyle could sense his constructs starting to crack, blood trickled down his mouth as he bit savagely at his lip. The Dalek showed no outside signs other than a flaring of its ring aura.

Then the explosion promptly slackened as the Dalek's ring ripped open a portal to the bleed. The Dalek had never done this before, but it should be theoretically possible. In a span of seconds the explosion was transported right into the bleed, away from reality.

After a moment there was silence before the Dalek disengaged his own ring shields. Kyle let go of his own constructs and gave a series of gasps as he tried to slow down his breathing. That was possible one of the most difficult things he had ever done.

**''Bleed transport complete.''** The Dalek's ring reported.


	24. Aftermath

**Author's Note:** Here is the next snippit. Many thanks to scriviner for editing help.

* * *

''-And so that's it.'' Kyle finished his playback of the ring. Superman, and Batman stood silently, both thinking for a moment. They were in one of the Watchtower's private meeting rooms, a secluded room with a viewing portal.

After the tower had been retaken, the Dalek had left for some reason. After that, the Justice League moved quickly to repair the damage done to the orbital satellite, enlisting heroes like Steel and Hardware to finish repairs to the systems. Red Tornado was eventually repaired, good as new.

''He called himself the Master.'' Superman pointed out.

''Yeah, pretty clichéd I know.'' Kyle nodded.

''Metaltron said he was not human, as did the Master himself.'' Batman pointed out.

''Well he looked pretty human to me.'' Kyle told him.

Batman simply pointed to Superman.

''Oh, yeah, sorry about that.'' Kyle rubbed his head sheepishly.

''Its fine.'' Superman nodded kindly.

''Anyway, I've had Nightwing speak to Starfire and Donna Troy. Hypnotism combined with a construct to interfere with their voluntary nervous systems.'' Batman pointed out.

He had already heard Dick's explanations that he got from his former lover and teammate. The Master had…gotten inside their heads for lack of a better explanation, twisting and suppressing their wills to follow him. They were vaguely aware of their actions, but they were strongly compelled to follow the Master. Starfire, with her history of slavery, had taken the experience hard.

''Yeah, a mind control villain, I hate those.'' Kyle lamented. Privately the Green Lantern thought forcing someone to do things against their will was one of the worse possible things you could do to a person.

''But who is the Doctor?'' Superman inquired. He had seen Metaltron recoil in actual fear from the construct the Master had made. Up till then nobody had seen Metaltron display fear or any emotion beyond annoyance and anger.

''The Doctor, the Master… those are both academic titles.'' Batman pointed out.

''I'm more concerned with the relationship between Metaltron and this 'Master'. Both of them clearly recognized each other.'' Superman pointed out.

''It might be that only Metaltron can give us those answers.'' Batman pointed out.

''Hal and John are scouring the rest of the Sector for the Master, I can go and ask Metaltron if you want.'' Kyle offered.

''Do it.'' The Man of Steel nodded. Kyle then flew out of the room. Superman watched him leave. After a moment he paused to look at Batman. The Dark Knight seemed somehow pensive.

''Do you have a problem Bruce?'' Superman inquired. He knew Bruce well enough to tell the subtle shifts in his moods.

''Beyond our current situation? Yes, in a way. I don't trust Metaltron.'' Batman said.

''He did save the Watchtower and the entire solar system.'' Superman pointed out.

''Would that be out of concern for us or simply self-preservation I wonder?'' the Dark Knight questioned. ''There is something he's not telling us. There was a rash of unexplained deaths in my city.'' Batman continued, his tone taking a speculative air.

''There's no proof that the Dalek was involved, although it looks suspicions.'' Superman pointed out.

''We'll wait and see. I don't trust Meltaltron, but at the moment the Master seems to be more dangerous. If he's smart enough to destroy an entire solar system then we are in trouble.'' Batman commented.

* * *

Caan moved around, checking out the base that the Dalek construction drones had prepared. It was a typical Dalek design. Simple and efficient. It really brought back memories for the insane Dalek. Memories of the Time War and the Cult of Skaro. Idly, in his madness, Caan wondered what Sec would think of him now. What would Jast or Thay think of him? Even with his gifts he would probably never know. Perhaps that was for the better.

Speaking of his gifts, he had had increasing trouble trying to observe the timestream of this universe. The time stream, for lack of a better analogy was all….muddled and messed up, like someone had haphazardly taken a paintbrush to an existing image.

Then here was a buzz and his casing gave an alert signal. It was the Red Lantern. The ex-Cult member glided over the floor and promptly pressed his plunger to the nearest transmission machine. After a few moments a single red Dalek hologram appeared before him.

''I HAVE URGENT NEWS!'' The Dalek Lantern reported.

''WELLWELLWELL WHAT IS YOUR LITTLE STORY THEN?'' Caan cackled.

''THE MASTER IS ALIVE AND IN THIS UNIVERSE.'' The Red Lantern told him.

''OH THAT'S NOT GOOD AT ALL. NOTGOODATALL!'' Caan mumbled. The Master? Caan deifntiely knew who he was. If he was loose…

'IT GET'S WORSE.'' The Lantern said.

''EXPLAIN.''

''HE HAS A YELLOW POWER RING.''

Caan spluttered in shock. The Master with a power ring!

''YES, THAT MAKES THE MASTER EVEN MORE DANGEROUS!'' The Red Lantern elaborated. Really, that was the understatement of the millennium.

''WHAT ARE YOU PLANS?'' Caan asked.

''THE NEW DALEK RACE WILL CONTINUE UNINTERRUPTED!'' the Red Lantern at the other end of the line said.

''…I SEE THEN.''

''I WILL CONTACT YOU LATER! CUTTING TRANSMISSION!'' with that the Dalek's hologram disappeared. Caan was silent for a moment before he glided off.

* * *

Kyle found the Dalek a few hours later as his ring finally detected a mass of crimson energy in Earth's atmosphere. He flew towards it. Eventually he spotted the familiar pepperpot form of the Dalek floating in the air.

It turned to look at him, as it halted its flight in the air.

''GREETINGS FELLOW CRIME FIGHTER. HOW MAY I ASSIST?''

''You can start by talking about the Master. Who exactly is he?'' Kyle asked.

The Dalek seemed to pause for a moment.

''THE MASTER IS THE WORST CRIMINAL OF THE TIME LORD RACE.''

''And the Time Lords are…?''

''WHERE I CAME FROM, THE TIME LORDS WERE A POWERFUL RACE OF HUMANOID BEINGS WHO HAD MASTERED TIME TRAVEL. THEY USE TIME AS A WEAPON. THEY ONCE TRIED TO WIPE OUR RACE OUT BEFORE WE COULD EVEN BE BORN. WE WENT TO WAR AGAINST THEM WHICH LED TO OUR MUTUAL DESTRUCTION.'' The Dalek explained.

Time Lord huh? A rather pretentious title, Kyle thought. These Time Lords didn't sound very benevolent if they tried to retroactively commit genocide on another species.

''And the Master?'' he asked.

''EVEN BY THE STANDARDS OF THE TIME LORDS, THE MASTER WAS A DANGEROUS CRIMINAL! HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY CRIMES AGAINST THE DALEKS.''

''How did he get here?'' Kyle asked.

''UNKNOWN. THE MASTER WAS EXECUTED ON SKARO-''

''Executed? So he was dead?''

''TIME LORDS ARE DIFFICULT TO KILL.'' The Dalek told him.

''That's not exactly new to me.'' Kyle admitted out.

''REGARDLESS, THE MASTER IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.''

''Dangerous yeah, but other than the ring and his hypnotism-''

''NEGATIVE. THE MASTER'S TRUE WEAPON IS HIS INTELLIGENCE.''

''I see then. Well what about the Doctor you mentioned earlier?'' Kyle asked. "Doctor who?"

The Dalek actually seemed to shrink back a little at the mention of the word ''Doctor''.

''THE DOCTOR IS THE GREATEST ENEMY OF THE DALEK RACE!'' the Dalek's voice became even more hysterical, ''IT WAS THE DOCTOR WHO DESTROYED BOTH THE DALEKS AND THE TIME LORDS.'' The Dalek continued.

''And the Doctor is what exactly?''

''HE IS ANOTHER TIME LORD.'' The Dalek told him. The Dalek paused to created a construct image of the Doctor's latest regeneration to show Kyle. It was surprisingly human looking. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, the Master had looked human.

'He destroyed his own race?'' Kyle asked.

''CORRECT.''

What kind of twisted psychopath would murder his own race and another besides? Kyle wondered. If the Time Lords were as bad as Metaltron painted them out to be, then this Doctor was probably the worst of their kind. Apparently Metaltron feared him greatly, which alone probably spoke volumes about this... Doctor.

"You wouldn't think he was that kind of cosmic scale mass-murderer to look at him." Kyle said cautiously.

The Dalek seemed to pause for a moment. ''THE DOCTOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MUCH DEATH AND DESTRUCTION BEYOND THE EXTINCTION OF THE DALEKS AND THE TIME LORDS.'' The Red Lantern answered him. ''HE IS THE ONCOMING STORM. HE IS THE BRINGER OF DARKNESS. MY PEOPLE CALLED HIM THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS.''

''Shit, we're probably going to need the entire League for this guy.'' Kyle muttered to himself. This sounded like a serious badass. Superman and Batman needed to know this.

''PRAY TO WHATEVER DEITY YOUR WORSHIP, HUMAN, THAT YOU DO NOT MAKE HIM YOUR ENEMY!''

* * *

The Dalek flew through the depths of space. Plans were already forming in his mind. There were several races in the galaxy that had perfected cloning and genetic technology. They would have to be sought out and investigated.

But now he would need backup.

**''We have arrived in the Ysmault system.''** His ring said.

The Dalek flew down to the bruised red world and then paused in the atmosphere.

''RING, LOCATE DEX-STARR!''

* * *

Meanwhile, in a remote planet somewhere in Sector 2814, the Master looked over his makeshift workshop. He had gotten quite a haul. He could spend weeks studying this technology for his own use.

For of course he had bigger plans. He had been entranced by the Orange Light when his ring first reported it. The power of an entire Lantern Corps in one ring was too much for the Master to resist. With that orange ring he would be unstoppable.

Of course, the Master would not rush in just quite yet. He was many things, but foolish was not one of them. His mind was already forming possibilities and schemes. He would find a way to force that orange ring off Larfleeze's hand, he was sure of it.

The Dalek, however, could prove troublesome. It was a large universe and the Master doubted he would run into the Dalek again unless it was by design. At the moment he already had plans for conquest.

''Ah the Vega system.'' The Master muttered to himself as he created a miniature construct of the system and prepared his plans.


	25. Vega

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the long wait, I decided to take a temporary break. Thanks to scriviner for editing help.

* * *

**''Hyperspace travel completed. We have arrived in Space Sector 2828.''** The Dalek's ring reported. The Red Lantern and Dex-Starr now emerged right at the outskirts of what was traditionally recognized as Vega system territory. Here he would accomplish the last stages of his search.

The Dalek had travelled all over the galaxy, going to various planets who were renowned for their cloning technology. The Glaxsians, the Torr, the Vashelf. Now he sought the last race on his list, the Psions, a cold emotionless race renowned for their expertise in the genetics.

The Psions, according to his ring, had been created by the Guardians of the Universe millions of years ago. They were then exiled to the Vega system by the Guardians in hopes that they would learn something of empathy. Obviously that hadn't worked. Of course, the Vega system has its own dangers. For many thousands of years it had been one of the few places in the galaxy completely free from Green Lantern jurisdiction, up until recently when the Guardians rewrote the Book of Oa in order to fight Larfleeze.

Here Green Lantern authority was still weak compared to other sectors. Only two Green Lanterns have been selected very recently to manage a group of local warlords and pirates nations who lacked traditional respect for the Lanterns. That and the Vega system had its own police force. Vril Dox of Colu has established L.E.G.I.O.N AKA the Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network as a rival to the Green Lantern Corps. He policed this section of the universe with his own rules.

''WE MUST PROCEED DEX-STARR! FOLLOW ME TO THE PSION HOMEWORLD!' the Dalek Lantern commanded.

''Meow.''

* * *

A single ship exited hyperspace outside of planet Rann and promptly moved into the traffic lanes. It was one of the small merchant ships that commonly frequented this part of the galaxy. Right above Rann there were a thousand others just like it.

Thus the ships attracted no special attention as it passed through L.E.G.I.O.N customs and was allowed to move and dock into the planet below. The pilot of the ship thanked the flight controllers before doing exactly that.

The massive, blocky grey ship then settled down on one of the many landing ports on Rann. Customs officials stood and watched as a single ramp extended from the ship and a humanoid figure in black robes walked down.

The customs official looked the man over, noting the pale grey skin and the blonde hair. He looked almost Rannian. The official paused to check the man's credentials before nodding and smiling at the man.

''Welcome to Rann, is this business or pleasure Mr. Tremas?''

''Business,'' said the man who called himself Tremas as he gave a cold smile.

* * *

Faress Karrek sat on the command throne of the Narsta, one of L.E.G.I.O.N's patrol vessels. He watched the sensors pick up the figures of two Red Lanterns moving into his jurisdiction. They had just exited a hyperspace tunnel into the Vega system.

Previously Vril Dox has used robot troops to enforce peace and order on his client worlds, but those mechanical policemen had been fallible. They had been subverted and reprogrammed for use against him. This time, Dox used living soldiers, recruited from L.E.G.I.O.N's various client worlds. Karrek himself was a former veteran in the Rannian army who signed up for opportunity. ''Justice for profit.'' The recruiting posters said, and now here he was.

He never expected to face Red Lanterns. Dox was rather clear on his hostile stance towards the Green Lanterns, Karrek couldn't imagine that he would tolerate the presence of a pair of Red Lanterns here at all.

''Open fire.'' Karrek commanded.

* * *

The blast struck the Dalek's shields, but they held. Dex-Starr yowled in the void as he too was struck by the blasts, briefly spinning away before he righted himself. The Dalek then turned to face the new threat.

His sensors detected it as a L.E.G.I.O.N patrol vessel. The Dalek was familiar with the basic history of the mercenary peacekeeping organization and its founder's hostility towards the Green Lanterns. It was no surprise that the vessel had fired on the Red Lanterns.

''ATTACK DEX-STARR! EXTERMINATE L.E.G.I.O.N!'' The Dalek shrieked, swooping in, forming weapons constructs as he promptly started blasting at the ship, crimson rays targeting the shield generators and weapon systems.

The shields of the LEGION patrol vessel flared for a few moments before the overwhelming power of the Dalek's blasts tore through its weapons systems, tearing off weapon mounts and gutting the shield generator systems.

Then the Dalek swooped in with the intention of boarding. A cutting laser construct formed as the Dalek proceeded to create an entrance in the armored bulkheads before swooping in. Air howled out as various pieces of equipment and some L.E.G.I.O.N soldiers followed. The Dalek flew past them and pressed it's plunger to another access hatch. After a few moments it overrode the lock and entered the corridor.

In the hallways, L.E.G.I.O.N soldiers in combat armor and wielding plasma blasters rounded the corridor. One of them, a sergeant in a red-marked helm, pointed at the Dalek. Plasma blasts impacted the Red Lantern's shields, but they held.

Meanwhile the Dalek's battle computers squired targets and it's gunstick was raised.

''EXTERMINATE!''

* * *

Dex-Starr curled up on a blood-soaked console as the Dalek moved past it. Both he and the Dalek had proceeded to clear the ship of the L.E.G.I.O.N soldiers that had attacked them before they got to the command deck.

The Dalek shoved aside the burnt corpse of a Rannian before pressing his plunger into the command console. He had originally planned to head towards the nearest Psion Habitat-Lab, but having a little extra information couldn't hurt.

After several moments, he hacked into the ship's database and extracted what LEGION knew about habitat Arc-6. It was one of the private science labs that the Psions maintained in the Vega system. It was commanded by a science-General Hallor. Allegedly, it specialized in cloning.

Exactly what the Dalek needed then.

''COME DEX-STARR!'' the Dalek commanded as the two Red Lanterns promptly blasted their way right out of the bridge, corrosive crimson fire burning aside the bonded armor plating. Outside the Dalek hovered forming another weapons construct.

''EXTERMINATE!'' he shouted before blasting the entire L.E.G.I.O.N ship to ashes and wiping out all evidence. When that was completed the Dalek paused and turned around.

''RING, PLOT COURSE TO SCIENCE-LAB ARC-6!''

**''Complying.''**

* * *

Vril Dox steepled his fingers as he looked over the holographic data-streams in front of him. Here, he directed L.E.G.I.O.N operations on over a hundred client worlds. His brilliant Coluan mind processed data faster than any human as he took in the latest reports and news.

One did catch his notice. One of his L.E.G.I.O.N patrol vessels had gone dark. Another patrol vessel however, had more luck in spotting it.

''Here it is sir, I decided to pull back rather than engage two Red Lanterns.'' The Branx Captain told him.

''I see.'' Vril Dox stroked his chin. What were two Red Lanterns doing here bedsides random slaughter? He had no proof that one of his patrol ships was destroyed by them, but Dox guessed that was the case anyway.

''Should I call in the rest of the squadrons and deal with them sir?''

''No,'' Dox shook his head, a plan already forming in his mind. It was a rather simple plan actually. ''We wait and watch for the moment. In the meantime ''leak'' news of the Red Lanterns to our local Green Lanterns.''

''Yes sir.'' The Captain nodded and his holographic image faded. Then his console displayed a report that Lobo had entered the system. Dox paused before taking that piece of information in. If his guess was correct they soon would have a bloodbath.

''Interesting.'' Dox muttered. Lobo was here so soon? He had heard thast Lobo went temporary missing after a recent tussle on Earth. His reappearance in the Vega system when these Red Lanterns had reappeared might not be a coincidence. Perhaps he could find a way to use Lobo…

''Patch me through to his bike.'' Dox commanded his computer system.

''Complying.'' After a moment Lobo's holo-image appeared at his computer console.

''Dox, I figured you'd come coming as soon as I snuck into your little playpen.'' Lobo chuckled.

''Ah yes, quaint as ever Lobo. I however noticed you have come here at the same time as some of my patrols spotted a couple of Red Lanterns.''

''You spotted them?Did one of 'em look like a cheap tincan?'' Dox caught a note of interest in Lobo's voice.

''Of course,'' Dox plastered on a fake smile. ''Now if I may put forth some advice…''


	26. The Psions

**Author's Notes:** Here is the next snippet. Thanks to scrivener to editing help.

Altin Ad'Ms and his partner Gorius Karkum are not my OC's, they are actual canon Green Lanterns that appeared in Tony Bedard's R.E.B.E.L.S run.

* * *

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Red Dalek roared as he blasted apart another Branx mercenary.

Science Lab Arc-6 was a station around sixty kilometers long. It had been established as one of the Psion outposts in the Vega system centuries ago. Since then it had served as one of their principal research centers into genetics.

The Dalek had come attempting to gain access. For this, he was fired upon. The Red Dalek had to guess it was because of his symbol and the Psions own distrust regarding the various Lantern Corps. He doubted they wanted a Red Lantern anywhere near their precious experiments. The Dalek had guided Dex-Starr through the defenses and had pinpointed the weapons batteries before taking them out. Then the Dalek had drilled through the outer habitant plates before he moved right into the heart of the Psion complex.

Branx mercenaries and Psion gene-engineered drones opposed him, armed with all sorts of deadly weaponry. The Dalek knew about the Branx from his ring's databases, they were a fierce and tenacious warrior race.

They were chaff before the Dalek. The Red Lantern's gunstick tracked a column of Branx warriors before letting loose a massive crimson blast from said gunstick, reducing most of the Branx warriors to ashes. A pair of multi-barreled red gunstick constructs were formed above the Dalek as the Red Lantern promptly let loose with a set of rapid fire blasts, chewing apart the alien warriors in the darkly lit and oppressive hallways.

Dex-Starr himself was tearing into the throat of another Branx warrior before vomiting a load of crimson fire into a Psion guard. The guard had only time to scream for a moment before the fire consumed his entire body.

The Dalek's sensors detected fire spearing across every level. He should have guessed that the crimson flames of the Red Lanterns would cause damage to their surroundings, but science lab Arc-6 was big enough that the damage would take time to spread.

The Dalek paused before checking the internal maps that the L.E.G.I.O.N ship had so kindly provided. He was nearing the central data-junction where the cloning data was stored. Pleased at that information the Dalek swirled around. His casing's battle computers promptly locked on and calculated a firing solution before the Dalek blasted apart several more Branx mercenaries with pinpoint accuracy. With that the Dalek promptly cleared the corridor of anymore Branx guards.

''FOLLOW DEX-STARR! FOLLOW!'' the Dalek indicated before promptly heading down one of the metallic Psion corridors, casually blasting away any Psion corpses that got in the way. Dex-Star followed the Dalek eagerly.

Eventually the Dalek came before a set of blast shielded doors protected by high-grade force field. The Dalek then scanned the defenses. This was not going to be an easy nut to crack for any normal Lantern, but the Dalek was no normal Lantern.

The Dalek carefully formed a set of cutting and drilling constructs in the air, sculpting them out of pure rage before starting to tear away at the force fields. After a few moments the Dalek modulated the correct frequencies before tearing them down. Then the Dalek began the work of cutting through the door.

After several moments the Dalek succeeded in cutting through the door locks before knocking down the door with a plunger construct. The metal blast shielding hit the ground with a loud thud before the Dalek entered the central data-hub, Dex-Starr perched on his casing. The data-hub was massive, filled with towering emerald data-stacks that contained the sum knowledge of the Psion research that had been conducted on Science Lab Arc-6. The Dalek spotted several Psions at the center of the room.

Before him, Science Marshal Hallor looked in disbelief at the strange Red Lantern that had entered Psion space. He had thought that a couple of marauding Red Lanterns had simply gotten too close and that some weapons fire would drive them off. He was wrong.

''Kill them!'' Hallor screamed as the guards surrounding him leveled their weapons.

What followed was short, brutal and messy.

After the Psions had been reduced to paste, the Dalek turned to the sole surviving Psion, Science-General Hallor. The cringing Psion was now bent on the ground, eyes wide with fear as the pepperpot-shaped Red Lantern looked at him. Allegedly Psions had no emotion, conducting everything with cold scientific curiosity, but now Hallor was feeling something very akin to fear.

''WHERE IS THE CLONING DATA?'' the Dalek screeched at him.

''In-in data stack 113….what are you! What do you want!'' Hallor asked him.

The Dalek ignored him and glided over to the relevant data-stack before pressing a plunger to it.

''DOWNLOADING DATA!'' the Dalek said as its ring and casing decoded the relevant information. After a moment it disengaged its plunger and turned around. Its eyestalk swilled to see Hallor, who was trying to flee.

''EXTERMINATE!'' the Dalek leveled a gunstick at the Psion and vaporized him. He could have no witnesses here. The Dalek had already taken the opportunity to erase the current sensor and data-logs of the attack.

Outside the Dalek began to take off before he stopped. Sensors had detected a life sign heading towards him at incredible speeds. The Dalek's eyestalk swiveled around to track a single figure coming through space.

''YOU!'' the Dalek shrieked.

''Yeah, it's me!'' Lobo leapt up off his bike to tackle the Dalek, his hook in one hand and a massive gun in the other. Both the Dalek and Lobo fell to the nearest outlying habitat plate rapidly, the bounty hunter trying to smash open the Dalek's casing as best he can.

''I'm lookin for a rematch 'cause the last time-'' Lobo began before the Dalek formed a gunstick construct and blasted Lobo off him. The Red Dalek promptly hovered and created another set of blaster constructs.

''YOU! YOU ARE MORE ANNOYING THAN THE DOCTOR!'' the Dalek blasted Lobo through a nearby Psion tower, crimson flames licking at the metals.

''I dunno who yer talkin about. But I've got firepower now!'' Lobo leveled his rifle at the Dalek and let loose a massive plasma blast. The Dalek's shields registered danger as the blast came closing to penetrating his armor.

''Reach tech. Howdya like that tincan?'' Lobo grinned as he leapt forward, charging the gun again. A brief scan of the gun revealed it indeed was Reach technology. Was Lobo cooperating with the Reach? The Dalek dismissed that line of thought. He had more pressing matters at the moment.

A set of red construct shields was able to block the next plasma blast. Blue-white fire rippled across those crimson shields as the Dalek flew up, Dex-Starr behind him as the Red Lantern leveled his gunstick at Lobo, firing off another massive blasts while his red constructs fired more blasts at him.

''SILENCE! THE ONLY THING YOU ARE GOOD AT IS DYING!'' the Dalek shrieked as he blasted Lobo again and again with his gunstick.

* * *

Above the Psion science lab, Altin Ad'Ms and his partner Gorius Karkum flew to respond to the latest intrusion into Vega space. The two Green Lantern Corpsmen were the first of their organization to officially operate in the Vega system for countless millennia. For most of Vega's recorded history the Green Lanterns could not operate within the system limits and any Lantern recruited from there had to operate outside his own sector. But recently that had changed with the Guardians repealing their treaty with Larfleeze.

Now the Vega system was open once more to Green Lantern jurisdiction, although the situation was far more complex. The Green Lanterns corps did not command the same respect in the Vega system as they did in the rest of the universe, as the Veganites had gone for so long without Lantern supervision.

**''Czarnian life signs detected.''** Gorius's ring reported. Her Okaaran partner cursed.

''So it is true, Lobo is here.'' Altin had not forgotten his last fight with the bounty hunter. True, the Okaarans did not fear death, but Lobo still intimidated them. Quickly the Okaaran and his partner flew down into the space station.

Altin and Gorius took the s sight of various debris somehow burning in space as they ducked and weaved through the floating wreckage. Gorius paused to run a scan with her ring. After a few moments her ring promptly confirmed the analysis. Gorius performed the Psion equivalent of a frown. This was not good.

Before the two Green Lanterns, they saw Lobo chuck a tower-sized building at a single crimson pepperpot-like figure. The building hit the figure with a massive impact before a crimson cutting laser burst through it and the figure rose.

''Is that Red Lantern using constructs?'' Gorius asked. Indeed, they could see a group of crimson pepperpot constructs be formed to fire upon Lobo who answered back with the strange handheld blaster he had.

''It is. I heard stories about a strange Red Lantern that could do that.'' Altin remarked as he commanded his ring to scan Lobo.

''Reach technology identified.'' His ring reported.

''So the Reach are involved.'' Gorius muttered.

''Regardless this can't continue.'' Altin conjured up a massive green construct flare in the shape of the Green Lantern Corps symbol. He fired it between the two combatants. ''Attention! You are under arrest for-''

The favored son of Okaara never got the chance to finish his sentence as what appeared to be an Earth cat leapt out of nowhere to promptly maul him. Altin fell back, uttering several colorful curses as the cat attempted to vomit bright red energy on him.

''Hey, it's that Psion girl and her partner.'' Lobo looked up. ''I thought you two buggered off.''

In response to that Gorius paused to create a construct cage around Lobo. ''As I said, you're under arrest. Now that Dox had left you out of his service-'' she was interrupted as Lobo slammed his fists into the construct cage.

''Now lady, that ain't gonna hold me. Didn't you learn from last time-'' Lobo and promptly interrupted as a massive crimson blast engulfed him just as he almost finished breaking out of the cage, the massive crimson blast then flung Lobo ring into the lower levels of the habitat.

''You!'' Gorius turned to see the mechanical Red Lantern. ''Don't think you can just waltz into the Vega system and commit crimes.''

''I DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.'' The Dalek told her.

''I have no great love for my people, but you've already destroyed a L.E.G.I.O.N ship and caused immense amounts of destruction.'' Gorius pointed out.

''SELF-DEFENSE.'' The Dalek told her.

''Self-defense?''

''THIS IS BETWEEN ME AND LOBO!''

Gorius hardly had time to say more as Lobo fired another blast from his rifle at them, the plasma round barely missing the Psion Green Lantern. The Dalek's eyestalk swiveled to look at the form of Lobo on the ground. Then the Red Lantern began to withdraw.

''Hah, yer running aren't ya?'' Lobo laughed. Then he stopped laughing as the Dalek promptly blasted his bike with his gunstick. The thing went up in flames.

''MY HOG! YOU-!'' Gorius winced as Lobo filled the air with a long list of very of vulgar curses. The Dalek remained impassive before it turned and created a six-hundred meter tall construct of a giant Dalek.

Gorius looked on in shock as the Dalek promptly hurled a six-hundred meter-wide chunk of pure rage right at Lobo. It hit with a massive shockwave, throwing up debris hundreds of feet into the air and into the lower orbit.

The Psion Lantern then was then covered by a red construct cage, the Dalek having used the distraction of the massive construct drop to cover her in a cage. Gorius quickly began to cut her way out of the cage, but the Dalek was already flying past her.

Meanwhile Altin had managed to triumphant over that hellish cat. He managed to finally knock away Dex-Starr with a construct spear after having covered himself with a set of overlapping green construct armor.

''Now. You will place yourself under my custody-'' Altin was promptly blinded as a massive red plunger construct slammed him into one of the suborbital plates of the space station. The Red Dalek promptly blazed off into the distance, with Dex-Starr following.

''COMMENCING TACTICAL WITHDRAWL!''

**''Hyperspace portal detected.''** Gorius's ring reported as she rose out of the wreckage of a nearby bulkhead. Var away the Dalek made good it's escape and promptly left in a hyperspace shut to flee the Vega sector.

''He's escaped.'' Gorius opened up a channel to Altin through her ring.

''Then we must chase him!'' the Okaaran said.

''No, our jurisdiction is the Vega system, ring scan Lobo's status.'' Gorius commanded.

**''Lobo is unconscious''** The ring reported.

''We may not be able to get that Red Lantern, but we can arrest Lobo at least!''

* * *

**''Hyperspace journey completed.''** The Dalek's ring reported as he exited the portal into the remote system that he had taken as a base. The Dalek then swopped down into the bruised ruddy skies of the planet and flew through the atmosphere, Dex-Starr following him.

Security protocols around the Dalek's base recognized his IFF signals as the Red Lanterns promptly flew into a nearby access hatch and entered the base proper. Eventually he came into the central command room were Caan waited.

''WELL? HOW WAS IT?'' Caan asked, turned around to look at him.

''THE DETOUR WAS SUCESSFUL. THE PSION DATA HAS BEEN EXTRACTED. THE NEW DALEK RACE BEGINS NOW!'' the Red Lantern proclaimed.

* * *

**Author's Note:** After this you will be seeing a timeskip of about eight months, after the the Red Lantern Dalek begins to create the New Dalek Empire.


	27. The Khunds

**Author's Note:** Here is the next snippet and your first look at the New Dalek Empire. Thanks to scrivener for editing.

* * *

''KHUND SHIP SIGHTED ON LONG RANGE SENSORS!'' reported Dalek Farr at the observation station.

Floating in the depths of space was a single Dalek scout ship, freshly constructed by the shipyards of New Skaro for the resurgent forces of the nascent Dalek Empire. It was of a type commonly used in previously Dalek Empire, a ship built for speed and stealth rather than combat.

But it would be seeing combat today.

Out of nowhere, the new Dalek Empire was rising. The other major powers were only vaguely aware of that yet, but that would soon change. Entire armies and fleets were being constructed in the orbital rings around the world.

All of this was from the one Dalek that all the other Daleks in this new empire were being cloned from. Thousands of new Daleks lurched along assembly lines into their new casings while new ships and weapons were being crafted for war. The surface of new Skaro became an industrial paradise while the planet itself was mined and hollowed out to feed the growing Dalek war machine. There was even talk of reforging the planet into a mobile Dalek battle station by attaching thrusters and artificial gravity generators.

Normally this was a process that would take decades or even centuries, but thanks to the power ring technology and the Butcher's power, the new Dalek Empire rose in a mere eight months into the framework for a growing superpower.

They had names now. Due to their human sides bringing new avenues of thought and ways to kill, many Daleks had chosen names to makes themselves more unique and give themselves a sense of importance. Dalek Zhekk sat in the command deck as his eyestalk looked over Farr's readings. That was indeed a Khund ship. Zhekk knew of the Khund, they controlled an immense interstellar Empire and were a race of violent warriors with a lust for conquest.

Well if they thought New Skaro was going to be easy pickings then they thought wrong.

Most of the Daleks on the bridge had a red and bronze color scheme with a crimson eyestalk lens. Zhekk was similar to his subordinates save for a black head dome that marked out his position as a Command Dalek.

''BRING US ABOUT COURSE AND HAIL THEM!'' Zhekk commanded.

''I OBEY!'' shrieked Dalek Parr, the helmsmen.

The saucer-shaped scout ships moved hesitantly through the void its helmsman cautiously approaching the Khund ships that had aggressively been poking in Dalek territory. After a few moments Parr finished establishing a connection.

''KHUND SHIP! BE WARNED, THIS IS DALEK TERRITORY! TURN BACK OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!'' Zhekk shrieked, rising irritation in his veins. After a few moments there was silence before a set of weapons blasts struck the command ship.

''ALERT! ALERT! SHIELDS DEGRADING TO 73 PERCENT!'' Farr shrieked.

''RETURN FIRE! BRING US TO A NEW COURSE HEADING AND EXTERMINATE THEM! EXTERMINATE!'' Zhekk screeched his anger reaching a boiling point at the audacity of these non-Daleks. Outside the Dalek scout ship ducked and weaved, its own weapons batteries targeting the Khund ship. Zhekk watched in satisfaction as the Khund ship registered major damage, before exploding into the cold void.

''THE KHUND SHIP IS DESTROYED. THE DALEKS ARE VICTORIOUS!'' Zhekk shouted.

''ALL HAIL THE DALEKS!'' Farr screeched.

''CONTACT NEW SKARO AND SEND A MESSAGE TO DALEK PRIME AND THE COUNCIL OF SUPREMES OF THIS INCIDENT. THIS WILL NOT BE THE LAST KHUND SHIP IN DALEK TERRORITY!'' Zhekk instructed Farr.

''I OBEY!''

* * *

Meanwhile in another part of Space Sector 2828 a figure walked down the streets of Aello. He was not one of the natives. He ewas humanoid, but his features were distorted and hidden under his black hood. He wore black robes, a typical merchant's guise.

The figure moved past the milling crowds and up the steps of a port docking ring. He paused to enter his station identification code. After a few moments the AI accepted his ID and the doors promptly slid open to the central docking ring.

A few minutes later and the figure entered the hatch of a large bulky merchant freighter, the type commonly used in the backwater parts of the universe to haul cheap cargo. Hundreds of that type existed in the Vega System.

The figure walked through shadowy halls and past complicated equipment. Eventually he came to a comn room. The figure paused to throw back his black hood before typing in a communications code into a transceiver unit.

A single blue hologram appeared. This was the Aelloan Grand chancellor. The hologram smiled warmly.

''Tremas, right on time.''

''I aim to please Grand Chancellor.'' Tremas bowed.

''Well I'm pleased to inform you that our financial transactions have been completed. Your new generators and industrial satellites have been installed.'' The Grand Chancellor told him.

''Well that's certainly good news. Do you need me for anything else?'' Tremas asked.

''Well there is some more financial matters to take care of…''

They talked for an hour more, hammering out little details, The Grand Chancellor taking in some of Tremas's advice on certain industrial matters. Tremas even made a couple of friendly inquiries into the Grand chancellor's day. It had been a pleasant one so far, he had learned.

Eventually Tremas signed off, both men saying amicable good byes. When the communications unit shut down Tremas began to laugh before dispelling the disguise field he had generated with his power ring, revealing the form of the Master.

This really had been too easy. The Grand Chancellor was an easily manipulated fool. All it took were some kind words and a healthy dose of hypnotism to make him listen to offers and then it was smooth sailing from there.

Five months ago ''Tremas'' had arrived in the Vega system, peddling revolutionary new advances in communications and industrial technology to the various sovereign powers of the Vega system. Some races, such as the Psions had refused his offers, but many more had accepted his goods. The Citadel in particular were especially easy to manipulate.

The Master's revolutionary power generators and inventions boosted power and industrial output by over 200% while his advances in communications greatly improved the old networks that the citadel Empire used in ages past.

It had taken months to cut through the red tape, even with all the Master's manipulations, but eventually he had done it and his technology had been spread all over the Vega system in all the locations he desired, with the fools suspecting nothing.

Well, all of them except Vril Dox. The Master had first identified the Coulan as a danger the first time he had read about on him. Dox was a ruthless mercenary leader with a tenth-level intelligence and a very cunning disposition. In all Dox was the only possible being who could match the Master's intelligence in this part of the universe.

Really, the Master privately mused, Dox was probably the closest thing to the Doctor he had in this universe. Here was a being he could match wits with. The Master was under no illusions that the paranoid and ruthless Dox had him watched, but the Master's security measures had evaded him, for now.

He had modified this junker with some Time Lord technology and had used it to establish a number of communication links all over the galaxy in order to further his planned conquest of the Vega system. Now he activated another communications channel.

A insectoid figure appeared as a hologram.

''Melkur, have you accomplished your end of the deal?'' the Guildmaster of the Spider Guild asked him.

''Of course. The preparations are almost complete.'' The Master told him. The Spider Guild had attempted to conquer the Vega system before only to have been foiled by the Omega Men.

''Our fleet is ready and eager for conquest. We hunger for the Vega system.''

''Of course, you will have your worlds. Remember, half for you and half for me.'' The Master reminded him.

''Of course Melkur, we will uphold our end of the bargain.'' The Spider Guild leader said.

''As you should. None of this would be possible without me.'' The Master told him before he cut the transmission.

Also five months ago the Master had made contact with the Spider Guild, making offers to them with much of the advanced technology he took from the Justice League on Earth. Even the reclusive Spider Guild could not resist his offers and in their greed and lust for conquest they accepted his offer. Rapidly the Master crossed over to another set of equipment and pressed a series of buttons, after a moment a set of diagrams and other datastreams appeared before him in holographic light. The Master took a moment to observe them.

Perfect. The monitoring equipment he had installed around Okaara had confirmed the departure of Larfleeze and his pet Guardian. His lair on that world was now wide open for the Master to search. Grinning, the Time Lord left. First he would go to Okaara and then to Qward.


	28. Ring Thief

**Author's Note:** Here is the next snippet. Thanks to scrivener for the Master's revised oath.

* * *

The doors opened in the command center on New Skaro and the Prime Dalek entered. Life had changed for the Dalek leader. Once he was just a normal Dalek in the forces of the Dalek Empire, and now it was at the head of his own Empire.

Whereas other Daleks in his Empire had chosen names, the Prime Dalek only went by a title. Everyone knew who he was. The Prime Dalek. Dalek Prime, The High Supreme, the Emperor-In-All-But-Name, the first among equals for the Dalek. He had considered actually declaring himself Emperor, but he felt the title was unnecessary and he considered himself to simply be the herald of the new Dalek race. He did however maintain a seat on the Council of Supremes.

The command center was of typical Dalek construction, plain and practical, with dull grey walls and steel terminals. Various Daleks looked over monitoring machines and computers while a trio of Daleks waited in the command center.

''PRIME DALEK ENTERING THE COMMAND CENTER!'' one of the Dalek Elite guards shouted. The Supremes at the table turned to greet him. The Prime Dalek recognized Dalek Skaar in his detailed red and gold casing with white markings and Dalek Drax, with his jet black casing with gold modules and slats. Drax's casing has been modified with an assault claw instead of the strandard plunger. All bore the Red Lantern Corps symbol.

''EXPLAIN THE SITUATION.'' The Prime Dalek commanded.

''WE HAVE RECEIVED A RECENT TRANSMISSION FROM ONE OF OUR SCOUT SHIPS IN THE DELTA-GAMMA BELT. THE KHUNDS ARE INVADING.'' Skaar told him.

The Prime Dalek was well aware of the Khunds recent encroachments.

''IT IS MY ANALYSIS THAT THE KHUNDS ARE PREPARING A MASSIVE INVASION FORCE. THEY SEE US AS EASY PICKINGS.'' Drax chimed in.

''THEY SEEK TO CONQUER US? THEY WILL BE EXTERMINATED!'' The Prime Dalek shrieked.

''IN ADDITION IT IS LOGICAL TO BELIEVE THAT THE KHUNDS ARE WORKING WITH PSION AGENTS. '' Drax pointed out.

''THE PSIONS? THEY MUST WANT REVENGE MOST LIKELY FOR MY EARLIER ACTIONS.'' The Prime Dalek mused.

''THEN THEY WILL BE EXTERMINATED AS WELL!'' Skaar proclaimed. The Prime Dalek's eyestalk moved to look at the data-banks.

''WHAT ARE OUR FORCE ESTIMATES FOR MILITARY COMBAT?'' he asked.

''THE FIRST AND THIRD FLEETS ARE READY FOR ACTION. THE SECOND FLEET IS CONDUCTING THE SUBJUGATION OF THE GLORION BELT AND THE FOURTH FLEET HAS BEEN ASSIGNED TO PATROL OUR BORDERS. THE FIFTH FLEET IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND UNDERGOING TRAINING.'' Skaar told him.

''DALEK DRAX AND MYSELF SHALL LEAD THE FLEETS AGAINST THE KHUND. YOU SHALL REMAIN HERE AND OVERSEE OPERATIONS IN MY ABSENCE.'' The Prime Dalek told Skaar.

''I OBEY!''

* * *

A single glowing yellow figure moved through the void of space towards the worlds of Okaara. This was home to one of the most famous species in the Vega system. The Okaarans were known for their military skills and many races from around the universe sent their children to train in the warrior arts there.

However, Okaara held a secret. It was the home of the Orange Lantern Larfleeze. For millions of years Larfleeze had laid dormant on Okaara, bound by the Guardians promise that they would never interfere in the Vega system.

But the Guardians had inadvertently broken that promise when the Controllers (a race distantly related to the Guardians) had attempted to claim the Orange Light. The Green Lantern Corps had come dangerously close to a full-scale war with Larfleeze until the Guardians reached another deal with Agent Orange, selling out Odym.

The Master had other priorities here. A greater prize lay beneath the jungles and caves of Okaara. The twin hearts of the Time Lord beat in excitement as he flew under the cover of the Okaaran night to land in the middle of a forest. There was the chitterling of insects and the faint sounds of beasts in the night, but the Master ignored those as he pressed on through the twisting, overgrown jungle to a set of ruined stone buildings ahead of him.

These buildings had once been a temple of some sort thousands of years ago, but now they were just the ruined husk that Larfleeze lived in. The Master looked over the entrance disdainfully before grinning as he saw the symbol of the Orange Lanterns carved into the stone. The Time Lord commanded his ring to scan the place for any traps. Swiftly the ring identified several security precautions. The Master snorted with disdain as he disabled them. They might have been impressive for any normal ring wielder, but next to the Time Lord's genius they were nothing.

The Master then flew through the stone hallways and into a large room. Half-eaten and rotting food was scattered all over the place. Larfleeze was an indifferent housekeeper at best. The Time Lord flew past another room full of random trinkets, ever searching for his prize.

**''Orange Ring deposit located.''** His ring chimed in.

''Excellent.'' The Master laughed as he phased through a stone floor into a cavern below. What he saw next pleased him.

Orange rings. Thousands of them in great ,massive piles. Larfleeze's ring was not the only Orange ring in existence, but it was the only _active_ one. Thousands lay beneath Larfleeze's lair on Okaara, deactivated and forbidden to seek out new users. Agent Orange would not share.

The Master launched another extensive sweep of the place and then paused to deactivate a few more of Larfleeze's hidden traps before he flew forward hesitantly. He picked up one orange ring and looked it over with admiration. Here he had one of those fabled orange rings. The Master had no opposition to using fear, and indeed, he had used his yellow ring quite competently in the past few months. But here was a power that could truly propel him to greatness.

''Ring, prepare antimatter transport to Qward.'' The Master commanded. Larfleeze would notice the disappearance of one of his rings, but by the time he noticed it would be too late. And besides, the Master was counting on him to notice.

**''Complying.''** In a flash the Time Lord disappeared.

* * *

Smoke rose high in the air as the Master listened to the repeated hammer strikes. They reminded him almost of the drums really. The regular rhythm soothed and calmed him. Then after a while it stopped. That was good. It meant the battery was ready.

The Master stood back and admired the single orange ring. He had finished reprogramming it. It was a much easier task than reprogramming the yellow ring. Larfleeze was considerably less intelligent than Sinestro and had never really put in any precautions. The Master then picked up the orange ring and walked over to one of the main forges. For the past two days his Qwardian slaves had worked feverishly on an orange battery, using a Sinestro Corps battery as a template.

Greed was one of the emotions strong on Qward and the slaves had used that as a spark to light the Lantern. Before the Master's eyes the battery blazed brightly, throbbing with power waiting to be unleashed.

This was only a temporary battery of course. Unlike the other corps the Central Power Battery of the Orange Lanterns was a normal-sized Lantern carried around by Agent Orange. This battery was more like what a conventional Green Lantern or Sinestro Corpsman would wield. Compared to the full power of the Orange Central Battery it was nothing.

But that was fine. It would serve the Master's purposes for the time being. The Master's true goal was the central orange battery. He could get and reprogram the ring, but to truly have all that power he needed the Central Battery to have the full power of the Corps at his command.

''Is it ready?'' the Master asked eagerly, excitement causing his twin hearts to beat faster and faster.

''Yes Master.'' One of his hypnotized Qwardian slaves replied in a monotone voice, his will utterly broken by the Time Lord. Grinning, the Master removed his yellow ring and then put his orange ring. In a flash a new uniform appeared on him. It was black with orange trim and the symbol of the Orange Lantern corps emblazoned on a white circle on his chest.

The Time Lord's eyes glowed orange as he laughed. Ring constructs of his past regenerations in the air, flying around and around. The Master looked at the ring.

''Who do you obey?''

**''This ring is only answerable to the Master of Gallifrey.''**

''Excellent.'' The Time Lord grinned and grabbed the Orange Lantern on the workbench in front of him and pressed it to the Lantern.

_"In starlit sky, In darkest cave_

_Let those who deny me what I crave_

_Rise to serve from beyond the grave_

_By the Master's orange light, you: My slave"_

**''Power Levels 100%''** the ring intoned.

The Master then paused to create several more complex constructs of weapons and other Gallifreyan devices. Satisfied he then turned on the Qwardian slaves and a tide of orange Master constructs rushed the Qwardians, pulling them apart.

**''Identities stolen….You belong to the Master of Gallifrey.''** His ring intoned as several orange construct ghosts of the slain Qwardians appeared.

The Master laughed.


	29. Springing a trap

**Author's Notes:** Alright, here's another snippet then. Credit to scriviner for editing.

* * *

In the void around the Vargas Belt in Sector 1963, hundreds of Khund ships moved through the void. They were one of the most powerful and brutal warriors cultures who had carved out an Empire through bloody conquest across the stars. Many of the Khund battle-lords had seen a new civilization rising in Sector 1963 and decided to expand the Empire's frontier there. Hopefully they could gain a new source of slaves and supplies for more prospective conquests there.

They were in for a nasty shock.

''KHUND FLEET SIGHTED!'' explained Strategist Pon from his station aboard the Exterminator. The Exterminator was the flagship killcrusier of the Dalek fleet, freshly constructed from the shipyard to serve as the symbol of Dalek military might. It was an immense bronze saucer-shaped ship with crimson trim and a giant Red Lantern symbol on the front.

''BEGIN COMBAT MANUVERS!'' ordered the Prime Dalek at the command station. Scores of Dalek saucers and battlecruisers moved out at his command across the void, opening fire as soon as they entered range.

Reports flashed across the holo-screens in front of the Prime Dalek, detailing the operational status of the Dalek ships and the current results of the attack.

''A KHUND SHIP IS DESTROYED! FIRST BLOOD IS OURS!'' the Prime Dalek commented.

''KHUND SHIPS SHIFTING FORMATION. ADAPTING TACTICS TO COMPENSATE!'' Dalek Pon shouted. The Prime Dalek focused his attention on the tactical reports again, accessing the Dalek communications network.

''-KHUND SHIP MOVING INTO WEAPONS RANGE!-''

''—EXTERMINATE THE KHUNDS!''

''DEPLOYING DALEK SQUAD BETA-FOUR TO LEFT FLANK!''

''—KHUND SQUADRON RETREATING TOWARDS THE ASTEROID BELT!''

''-THE KHUNDS WILL BE EXTERMINATED!''

''KHUND FLAGSHIPS COMING INTO RANGE!''

The Dalek Prime's focus was on the last one. The Exterminator's sensors detected a massive Khund ship that could only be the flag-vessel of the Khund fleet. That was where the Khund Battle Lord most likely oversaw the fight.

''MOVE THE SHIP TO ENGAGE! I WILL LEAD THE ATTACK SQUAD MYSELF!'' the Prime Dalek commanded.

''I OBEY!'' shrieked the Navigator Dalek at the helm.

* * *

Vril Dox watched in interest on the news screen as the galactic information news reported on the Khunds' latest attempt at military conquest. Normally Vril Dox hardly cared about what little pissiant race the Khunds decided to run over, but this one intrigued him. These Daleks were like nothing he had ever seen before save for images of that strange Red Lantern. They had appeared out of nowhere and had grown at an explosive rate. Even Dox was shocked as how quickly they were spreading.

There were many speculations on what exactly these creatures were. Many people had thought they might be robots in the service of some higher power, but Dox privately thought they were cyborgs of some kind. Few mechanical species could replicate the irritated screech that these creatures talked in, or use the red light.

The red power was what made Dox sit up and take notice of them. Some robotic creatures, like the Green Lantetrn Stel, could utilize the emotional spectrum, but for many robots that source of power was denied to then. Yet these creatures had evidently harnessed it somehow. Dox shifted in his chair as his own private LEGION newsbots fed more information into his terminal screens. It seemed that the battle was not going well for the Khunds. That was something nobody had expected.

The Khunds, one of the mightiest warrior races in the galaxy, were getting their asses trounced and everyone in the Vega system could see it. What's more, they were being beaten by an utterly ridiculous army of tin cans.

''Dox!'' Adam Strange came up on one of is holo-screens. Vril Dox forgave the momentary rudeness and turned towards him in irritation.

''Yes, what is it?'' the Coluan asked.

''The Spider-Guild! They'-'' suddenly Strange's holo-image was cut off in a burst of static. With a frown Dox's fingers flew over the terminal holo-keys. However he only got static and lines of meaningless code. His frown turned deeper.

A virus, implanted into the systems but this was like nothing he had ever seen before. The fact that this was deployed while the Spider Guild was attacking was no coincidence. His agile Coluan mind quickly narrowed down the list of potential suspects.

''Tremas.'' He snarled. He never trusted the merchant and had kept tabs on his activities, but somehow the merchant had eluded him. That did not matter now. The situation had to be salvaged and LEGION forces rescued.

The Coulan quickly grabbed a blaster pistol and walked out of the room, already forming plans.

* * *

Meanwhile in the middle of the Vega System the Master floated in the void of space as he watched the Spider Guild ships arrival in-system via hyperspace. There were hundreds of them around Rann alone, each one laden with warrior drones for conquest.

The Master had activated the hidden virus he had planted into the communication systems of the various Vega system powers, scrambling their communications and operating networks, effectively causing a blackout over the Vega system. His ring registered weapons fire as the Spider Guild and the Rannian defense forces fought it out in the orbit around the planet, but without any kind of communications link the Rannian forces would be disorganized and scattered.

The Master created some sort of construct that resembled a telescope and peered into it. He spotted bright flares rippling across the surface of Rann as several Spider Guild ships moved in to take out some of their orbital defense batteries. Already thousands of transport craft were moving down to land Spider Guild warrior drones to take the planet. Rann had been one of the worlds promised to the Spider Guild, but the Master doubted it would be an easy prize, even with the communications network virus.

After all Rann was one of the major L.E.G.I.O.N outpost worlds after their headquarters on Maltus. Vril Dox was on Rann as was Queen Blackfire and the Tamereanan remnants. The Master expected heavy resistance.

But it didn't matter. Dox, Blackfire and the Tamereanans would become irrelevant once the Master's greater prize was achieved. The Time Lord flew through the void of space, scanning for a nearby hyperspace distortion. He stopped in the middle of space suddenly, observing a Spider Guild Fleet merge from a hyperspace portal.

''Ring: Transmit identification codes and instructions to the ships.'' The Master instructed.

**''Complying.''** This fleet had been part of the Master's deal with the Spider Guild. Officially it would be the fleet to attack Okaara itself, however said fleet had much a much greater role to play in the Master's conquest of the Vega system.

After a moment his ring registered a message of confirmation from the Spider Guild commander and the Master smiled in satisfaction as the fleet moved off to Okaara. The Master followed, but not before letting loose a signal from his ring. Normal Lantern Corpsmen could pull off distress signals so that their fellows could recognize them, but for the Master this would serve as excellent bait to lure Larfleeze into his trap.

* * *

The Dalek Prime moved through the void of space, four Elite Daleks following him, each one equipped with a copy of his own red power ring. Their gunsticks tracked and blasted Khund fighters and destroyers in the void as they approached their target, the Khund flagship.

It was a massive beast, almost three time larger than a standard Khund battleship. It shared the typical brutal-looking battering ram design of Khund warships. Currently it was exchanging fire with a Dalek saucer squadron.

''TARGET THE WEAPON SYSTEMS!'' commanded the Prime Dalek as crimson rays tore apart Khund weapon batteries and missile silos. Chunks of debris floated into space as the red energy blasts gutted the flagship.

''PREPARE FOR BOARDING! EXTERMINATE THE KHUNDS AND SEIZE THE SHIP!'' the Prime Dalek commanded.

''WE OBEY!'' the Elites shrieked as they flew in, forming cutting laser constructs as they proceeded to open a portion of bulkhead. After a few moment he hull plating was ripped off and the five Daleks flew into the ship.

Air howled behind them as emergency bulkheads closed, but the Daleks were in. Red light blasted forth from gunsticks as the Dalek Elites tore down the nearby walks and entered deeper into the ship. Khund warriors came out to meet them. The average Khund warrior stood seven feet tall and heavily muscled. Each one was a mountain of violence and aggression, bred in a warrior culture that saw killing as natural as eating of drinking. They were heavily armed with laser weapons and close combat blades.

They hardly stood a chance against the Dalek Elite. Cries of ''EXTERMINATE!'' filled the hallways as the Elite Daleks blasted Khund after Khund. One formed a flamethrower construct even to burn the Khunds to death while another formed a pair of chainsaws.

Laser rounds impacted off of the Prime Dalek's shields as he glided in, gunstick blasting Khund warrior after Khund warrior, reducing them to ashes. Another Khund warrior leapt to strike him with a massive two-handed axe, which the Dalek blocked with a construct shield before forming a plunger construct to crush the Khund's head.

The plunger connected and the thick skull of the Khund collapsed under the pressure, the purple blood of the Khund warrior dripping down as the huge body of the alien warrior hit the ground. The Dalek flew overhead, gunstick blasting again and again.

''EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE THE KHUNDS! CAPTURE THE COMMAND BRIDGE! THE DALEKS WILL BE VICTORIOUS!'' the Prime Dalek shrieked.


	30. Agent Orange

**Author's Note:** Here is the next snippet. Thanks to scrivener for editing.

* * *

The Master set up a telescopic construct as he relaxed on the surface of Okaara's moon. He peered out, watching the great forms of the Spider Guild warships engage the Okaaran ships that managed to respond, while landing pods carried Spider Guild warriors down. Several dozen ships hung back from the main Spider Guild formations. These had been held back specifically at the Master's request. They would soon play an important role in his own plans.

Indeed, the Spider Guild's own dimensional web spinning technology had provided much of the inspiration for the Master's current plot. The Time Lord had spent much of his time in the Vega system setting up the skeleton of a trap for Larfleeze using this technology. And now his efforts would soon pay off. The Master's ring flashed as it registered a hyperspace distortion. The Master tracked the distortion and gave a cold smile as he spotted the form of Larfleeze emerge.

''Hook, Line and Sinker'' The Master whispered as he sent the signal to the Spider Guild. Immediately the Spider Guild warships moved to engage Larfleeze, weapons blazing. They, of course, could not defeat Larfleeze, as the power he held was terrible indeed, but they would slow him down long enough.

Weapons fire bloomed in space as orange blasts ripped across the void, gutting a Spider Guild cruiser and sending hundreds of Spider Guild warrior drones to spill out in the void. Another Spider Guild ship created a miniature singularity to trap Larfleeze.

The Master got up and ignored the battle itself. He had preparations to make. He flew out of the atmosphere of the Okaaran moon while he pulled up another set of orange computer constructs around him. His fingers flew across the boards as he prepared the two stages of his trap. First the Spider Guild webs would activate from a dimensional vortex and ensnare Larfleeze. That would be nothing more than a temporary measure, but it would serve to separate him from his pet Guardian for a moment.

Then he activated his next step. He commanded his ring to open a backdoor signal to the Orange Central Power Battery. After a moment it confirmed it's activation. Then all across the Spider Guild fleet and across the Vega system the Master's machines activated.

It had taken months of preparation to build a Energy Transfer Device keyed to the Orange Light. All that work specifically to momentarily strip Larfleeze of his mastery of the Orange Central Power Battery. The creature had been soaked in its energy for uncounted millennia, so the Master required a large among of preparation time and study of Larfleeze himself.

For months he had observed Larfleeze secretly, studying what scrap of the Orange Central Power Battery he could get his hands on. A prior infiltration mission to Okaara allowed him to gather the half-eaten corpses of the Controllers, allowing him insights into how the Orange Light killed his victims.

Finally, all of the Master's hard work was about to pay off. A single orange light flew through the stars. It was the Central Power Battery, with Larfleeze hanging off for dear life, a horde of orange constructs floating behind him hesitantly. The Master noted a look of incredulous rage on the Orange Lantern's face. Larfleeze's battery for once was moving entirely against his will.

The Orange Central Power Battery flew into the Master's hands as he gripped it tightly. On the other side of the Lantern Larfleeze yanked on it fiercely. It had worked. Using his orange ring the Master had essentially hacked into the AI network of the Orange Lantern Corps.

After spending countless centuries in solitude as the sole Orange Lantern, Larfleeze had never dreamed that someone might be able to hack into the ring AI network. Larfleeze had been especially lax in that regard, thus allowing the Master to upload his own control programs into the Central Power Battery and to take control of all of Larfleeze's power.

''MINE! It's mine you hear! You skazzing freak! How did you steal one of my rings! It's MINE!'' screamed Larfleeze yanking furiously on it, but the Master had already cut off his acess to the main power battery.

''You fool, you waste this immense power hiding away like some craven animal. I on the other hand will use this power to enslave the Vega system, and perhaps the rest of the universe as well,' sneered the Master as he yanked backwards. Abruptly Larfleeze's Orange constructs moved in to help, then a group of Spider Guild fighters intervened.

''It's MINE! MINEMINEMINEMINE!'' Larfleeze tried to summon another army of constructs, but then he froze as he Master thrust his ring into the Central Power Battery.

''Commence Master Protocol One.'' The Time Lord commanded.

**''Complying, beginning power drain.''** The ring responded.

**''Warning, Power Levels at 72.67 and falling.''** Larfleeze's ring reported.

''WHAT IS THIS!'' Larfleeze howled with rage, trying to destroy the Master with a burst of orange power, only for the Master to throw up a construct shield before finally yanking away the power battery and pressing his ring deeper into the side.

**''Power levels 100,000%''** the Master's ring responded. Triumphantly the Master raised his ring high and clutched the battery tight.

''Mine.'' The Time Lord hissed.

Larfleeze let out a wordless cry of pure rage, attacking with every last drop of energy his rapidly failing ring had, the Master merely responded with a great blast of his own, vaporizing Larfleeze instantly.

After a moment the Master's ring blast faded and nothing remained of Larfleeze save for his ring that floated in the void. The Master raised a hand and the ring flew to his ring hand, sliding up his index finger.

**''The Master of Gallifrey, you want it all. You are now Agent Orange.''** The ring continued, now truly inducting the mad Time Lord.

''Excellent!'' The Master began laughing as a dozen constructs of his past selves flew about him. Yana. Tremas. The rotting form. His twelfth incarnation and more. Around and around the constructs went like a mad cartwheel.

This was true power! The Master could feel the burning greed course through his veins as he formed a variety of fantastical constructs. The yellow power ring he had wielded was nothing compared to the immense power he now wielded. With this power he could truly conquer the universe!

And greed! Such greed! A terrible gnawing filled the Master, he wanted the ring, he wanted the Spider Guild, he wanted Okaara, he wanted the Vega system, he wanted Oa, he wanted Earth, he wanted the whole universe!

The Master raised his hand and snapped his fingers, sending out a signal over the comn channel. Abruptly the Spider Guild warships sank back as the Master flew towards the form of Sayd who turned to look at him, her face filled with apprehension.

''Larfleeze's little slave Guardian.'' The Time Lord mused.

''You killed him…''' Sayd's voice trailed off in amazement.

''Indeed. I do hope we won't have a problem. As formidable as one Guardian is, even you cannot defeat the power of an entire Lantern Corps.'' The Master told her.

''…no'' Sayd said after several seconds of silence.

'''Excellent.'' The Master formed a claw construct and grabbed Sayd by the collar of her uniform. With one sharp yank he brought her forward to stare deep in her eyes. The Guardian noted the Time Lord's eyes were now a blazing orange.

''I am the Master and you will obey me.'' He grinned before he paused and then summoned forth a massive army of thousands of constructs. Hundreds upon hundreds of twisted ghoulish orange phantoms appeared, brought forth by the Master's insatiable avarice. With one sharp gesture of the Master's, the construct army was sent surging forward, guided by the Time Lord's desires. The Master then opened up his communications link to every planet in the Vega system and took a deep breath.

''Peoples of the Vega system, please attend carefully to the following message…''

* * *

The Khund corpse hit the floor with a thud as the Prime Dalek moved forward, eyestalk scanning the command bridge as the various Elite Daleks shrieked ''EXTERMINATE!'' in the process of taking out the last Khunds.

Tactical and strategic reports on the battle were being transmitted through his armor sensors. The Dalek fleet had gutted the Khund battlefleet and was currently chasing down the last remnants of the Khunds before they could jump to hyperspace.

Dalek Varnas rolled up to him. ''KHUND FLAGSHIP HAS BEEN SECURED!''

''BRING FORTH MORE DALEKS TO GARRISON THE SHIP!'' the Prime Dalek instructed.

''I OBEY!'' Varnas shrieked before floating off.

Nearby the Prime Dalek's sensors noted the signatures of Dalek Drax moving into communication range. A moment later the comn channel opened up.

''WE ARE VICTORIOUS! THE KHUNDS HAVE BEEN EXTERMINATED!'' Drax told him.

''EXCELLENT. PURSUE AND FINISH EXTERMINATING THE KHUNDS.'' The Prime Dalek told him.

''I OBEY. SHALL WE LEAD AN ATTACK INTO THE KHUND EMPIRE ITSELF?''

''NO. WE MUST NOT OVEREXTEND OURSELVES. WE LACK THE RESOURCES FOR THAT. LEAD ATTACKS INTO KHUND MILITARY OUTPOSTS AND COLONIES IN SECTOR 1963, BUT DO NOT GO FURTHER THAN THAT.'' The Prime Dalek informed Drax.

''BUT WILL THE KHUNDS NOT RESPOND?" Drax asked.

''NO. THE KHUNDS ARE A WARRIOR RACE, BUT THEY HAVE SEPARATE FACTIONS AND OTHER WARS TO CONDUCT. THEY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MUSTER SUFFICENT STRENGTH AT THIS POINT IN TIME.'' the Prime Dalek said.

''UNDERSTOOD. WE WILL BEGIN DECODING THE KHUND BATTLE COMPUTERS!'' Drax told him.

''PROCEED!''

* * *

**Author's Note:** I do hope I handled the Larfleeze/Master confrontation well. I did't want the Master defeating Larfleeze with brute force, rather to be able to use his orange ring to get into the ''backdoor'' of the CPB, and take control there.


	31. War Drums

**Author's Note:** Here is the next chapter. Again, I would like to note that updates will be slow in coming now that the college semester for me is starting. I am going to be quite abusy with college work for the time being, so the schedule won't allow me much time to work on Dalek Lantern. Just as a heads up.

* * *

Six blue figures floated in the blue chamber as the Guardians looked over the holographic representation of the universe. New developments had happened and their response had to be considered.

''These Daleks are growing faster than we had anticipated.'' One of the Guardians stated.

''They have even harnessed the Red Light. Has Atrocitus learned of this yet?'' another Guardian asked.

''Unknown. We must assume he has not.'' Another Guardian said.

''They are becoming a danger. Eventually we might have to deal with them.'' A Guardian stated.

''Diplomacy or force then?''

''We shall try diplomacy first to see if we can contain the Daleks. If it does not then we shall exercise force. Atrocitus should not see this as a violation of our agreement with him.''

''Agreed. Now we-'' suddenly the Guardians were cut off by the holographic form of Salaak. The alien paused to bow before straightening up.

''My apologies, but we have received an emergency data-transfer from the Vega system Lanterns that you must see.'' Salaak said with an apologetic tone.

''Report Salaak, tell us this urgent message.''

The Green Lantern raised a hand and another set of information was displayed across the Guardians' chamber. Reports of the Spider Guild attacking the Vega system, along with greater news. News of another Orange Lantern and Larfleeze's disappearance.

''That is the Orange Central Power battery.'' One of the Guardians noted.

''It appears Larfleeze was killed. Lantern Karkum was unable to locate his body and Sayd was spotted in the presence of this new Orange Lantern.'' Salaak told them.

The Guardians were quiet as they took in the features of the new Orange Lantern. It was only a snapshot holo-capture, but they saw enough of the humanoid features that this new Agent Orange had. He looked just like a human actually.

''Orange constructs have overwhelmed defenses on several worlds and killed the two Lanterns in charge of patrolling the Vega system . We only just got the transmission before they were killed. The Vega system is falling to the orange light.'' Salaak told them.

''Thank you Salaak, now leave us for the moment.'' One of the Guardians commanded him, leaving the Guardians of the Universe to converse among themselves in private.

''This is most troubling. It appears we have a new Agent Orange.''

''This one appears to be far more aggressive and ambitious.''

''He must be dealt with.''

''What of the Daleks?''

''They are a minor threat compared to the Orange Light unleashed. This Agent Orange must be dealt with. Perhaps we can contain him in the Vega system like we did with Larfleeze?''

''Possible. But this one may not be so easily manipulated.''

''Then we must prepare for the worst.''

* * *

The Prime Dalek entered one of the central decoding and information processors on the Exterminator. As the flagship of the Dalek fleet it was well-equipped with a variety of faculties for use in prosecuting full-scale war. The Prime Dalek noted the form of a Scientist Dalek and Dalek Drax who were next to a nearby computer. The Scientist depressed his plunger from one of the control slats and turned to face the Prime Dalek.

''KHUND DECRYPTION COMPLETED.'' The Scientist reported.

''REPORT.'' The Prime Dalek said.

''WE HAVE UNCOVERED INFORMATION IN THE KHUND DATABANKS.'' Drax told him.

''ELABORATE.'' The Prime Dalek questioned.

''THESE KHUNDS WERE MERCENARIES, HIRED TO ATTACK US WITH PROMISES OF PLUNDER. OUR INITIAL FINDINGS OF PSION INTERFERANCE WERE INCORRECT. WE UNCOVERED REACH ENCRYPTION SIGNALS.''

''THE REACH ARE COMPLICT IN THE KHUND ASSAULT?'' the Prime Dalek questioned.

''AFFIRMATIVE. THE REACH SEE US AS A THREAT THAT MUST BE CRUSHED.'' Drax speculated. The Prime Dalek knew that the Reach had plenty of reasons to see the Daleks as a threat, least of which his own destruction of a Reach ship earlier.

''THEN THE REACH ARE ENEMIES OF THE DALEKS. THEY WILL BE EXTERMINATED!'' The Prime Dalek proclaimed.

* * *

Smoke billowed high above the ruins of the Rannian Government Palace. Orange Lantern constructs flew howling through the air while hundreds of Spider Guild drones stood on the ground below, weapons and claws at ready.

The Master sat in one of the chairs pulled from a government office, a pack of twisted looking orange constructs and Spider Guild warriors. Before him were dozens of prisoners bound in orange chain constructs.

The conquest of the Vega system had come swiftly. Little could stand in the Master's way, bearing as he did the twisted genius of a Time Lord combined with the power of an entire Lantern Corps. The power of the Orange light had swept all aside. The once powerful military of Rann had fallen to the Master's power while the Citadel, the Throneworld, the Karna, the Gordonians, the Branx and many others had been defeated by the Master and his Spider Guild allies.

Now, for the first time since the Citadel Empire had fallen, Vega was united under the grip of Agent Orange. The Master had already divided up several planets to his allies as promised. He cared little. There would be more places for him to rule.

''Well, well, this was a bountiful harvest now wasn't it? Look at you! The mighty Rannian nation and the Tamareans! Such great races!'' the Master got up and spread his arms in mockery. ''And L.E.G.I.O.N! The great peacekeepers of the galaxy! Oh, I'm sorry, that's the Green Lanterns.'' The Master added sarcastically as he got up and looked over his captives. Behind it floated two special constructs.

One was Adam Blake, once known as Captain Comet, a superhero from earth. A powerful telepath, he had been slain defending Rann. The other was Strata of Dyrad, another L.E.G.I.O.N founding member, now one of the Master's orange lantern constructs. Adam Strange and the remaining figures of the Rannian government had fled into exile, but many prisoners had been taken in the confused aftermath of the battle. This included Komand'r of Tameran and Vril Dox.

''Ah, you are the one they call Blackfire? I'm told you're a treacherous one.'' The Master looked over the bound and chained Tameraean Queen on the ground. She spat at him. Delicately the Master wiped it from his suit.

''Well, I can see you're not the one to serve.'' The Master gestured and a pair of orange lantern constructs descended on her.

**''Identity stolen. Komand'r of Tameran you belong to the Master.''** His ring chimed as a new construct appeared before him, twisted and wild. She coiled around the Master as he turned smirking to Vril Dox.

''So it is true, you've taken Larfleeze's ring. That's rather impressive.''

''Yes, Vril Dox. The great chessmaster of L.E.G.I.O.N. Tell me, how is that working out for you?'' The Master asked him.

''You won because of that ring, not out of any guile.'' Dox snapped.

''Says the loser.'' The Master mocked him.

''And you really think you can hold on to what you've gained like this? I see the ambition in your eyes, the Guardians will come after you. Even you cannot take on the universe.'' Dox told him.

''Watch me,'' the Master smirked and raised his hand to point at him.

''Oh, I think I'll enjoy having you as an intellectual sparring partner. Don't worry, death will not be the end of you.''

* * *

Then in another part of the universe, in Sector 2, several hooded and cloaked figures sat around a meeting table, a holo-projector bringing form ghostly blue images of the Daleks for the figures to look upon.

''These Daleks are becoming a problem.'' One of them stated.

''Indeed, we wrote the first one off as the last survivor of his species when he destroyed one of our fleets, but it appears there were more like him than we suspected.'' Another one pointed out.

''They are growing rapidly, far faster than our calculations. This is unheard of, how could any species grow so fast?'' one asked.

''They have defeated the Khunds that we sent to attack them. So much for Khund ferocity.'' One of them grumbled.

''That merely proves that these Daleks are beyond even the Khunds, soon they will be advancing into our territory and clashing with our interests.''

''You propose war then?''

''Correct.''

''The Lanterns will not allow this.''

''We have already received a private word from the Guardians. They have bigger matters to deal with. They will not interfere. We have an unspoken agreement on this.''

''Then we are free to move?''

''That won't stop individual Lanterns from interfering.'' Another one pointed out.

''But it will stop the greater Green Lantern Corps from interfering.'' Another one pointed out.

''Enough. It is time for the Hivemasters to vote. Do we commit against the Daleks or not?''

A minute passed and the votes were tallied. It was unanimous.

''Then it is settled. Ready our fleets. We march to exterminate the Daleks from the face of the universe.''


End file.
